Transportation

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The NGFA this week joined three other shipper organizations in submitting a statement to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) urging that it reject a request from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to reconsider the agency’s previous decision deferring action on a railroad petition that would require the agency to conduct cost-benefit analyses on virtually all rulemaking proceedings. The NGFA, American Chemistry Council, The Fertilizer Institute and the National Industrial Traffic League maintain that requiring such cost-benefit ... Read More

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing to change the hours-of-service rules for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.  The proposal, published Aug. 14, includes provisions supported by the NGFA that would increase flexibility for CMV drivers given the spike in freight rates that followed implementation of the electronic logging device mandate. In the proposal, FMCSA included NGFA’s recommendation to extend the time and distance that a CMV driver may operate under the short-haul exception from 12 to 14 hours and from ... Read More

The NGFA commended the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for considering a second pilot program to allow drivers aged 18, 19, and 20 to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce.  In an Aug. 6 statement submitted to the agency, NGFA said the pilot program has the potential to remove a significant impediment to efficient movement of goods in interstate commerce – the inconsistent minimum age rules for CMV drivers operating in interstate versus intrastate commerce. The minimum age for operating CMVs within ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and John Kennedy, R-La., encouraged the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to move forward with rail rate reform in a July 25 letter to STB commissioners. “We…encourage the Board to move expeditiously on next steps that support a competitive and reliable rail system for all stakeholders, including freight rail shippers,” they wrote. Earlier this year, the STB released its Rate Reform Task Force Report, which contained multiple recommendations for how the agency could improve its processes ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Affairs The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this week advanced legislation dubbed the “America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019,” which would authorize $287 billion from the Highway Trust Fund over five years to improve road safety, accelerate project delivery, improve resiliency to disasters and reduce highway emissions.  Congress most recently passed a highway bill in 2015 and its authorization expires on Sept. 30 next year. The committee voted unanimously on July 30 to advance the bill. But before ... Read More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has unveiled a new and interactive data platform to make it easier for stakeholders to access, use and download data on the transportation of agricultural products by rail, truck, barge and ocean-going vessels. The open data platform developed by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Office of Transportation enables users to: View up-to-date, interactive dashboards or major transportation modes and markets;Access data in many different, open-file formats;Select and download data using easy filtering and aggregating tools;Create a variety of ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media During a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on July 10, the Waterways Council Inc. (WCI) asked lawmakers to support a new cost-share finance structure for inland waterway infrastructure projects, which is supported by the NGFA. A financing model with 25 percent non-federal funds and 75 percent federal government funds would accelerate project completion for a number of critical inland waterways projects as well as maintain funding levels for the inland navigation capital program, explained Rob Innis, ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The NGFA and 26 other agricultural producer and agribusiness organizations on June 25 strongly encouraged the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to undertake a rulemaking to modernize its oversight of freight rail rates. In a letter to each of the STB commissioners, the members of the Agricultural Transportation Working Group co-chaired by NGFA and the American Farm Bureau Federation also strongly supported the agency’s work to examine commercially unfair, commercially impractical and nonreciprocal demurrage and accessorial charges and practices. On ... Read More

By Bobby Frederick, Director of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy The House passed legislation (H.R. 2740) on June 19 combining four appropriations bills — commonly referred to as a “minibus” — totaling nearly $1 trillion in spending. The bill would fund the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State and Energy. The legislation passed by a vote of 226-203, with no Republicans supporting the measure. The bill includes critical funding for the inland waterways transportation system, including $7.36 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of ... Read More