FOR RELEASE
Contact:
Janie Sheng (202) 245-0221
07/17/1998 (Friday)
No. 98-43
FedRelay 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD DISMISSES DEBRUCE GRAIN, SIERRA PACIFIC COMPLAINTS AFTER PARTIES REACH SETTLEMENT
Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today that the Board has terminated its consideration of two rail complaints after the parties reached negotiated settlements. The first complaint, filed by Sierra Pacific Power Company, involved a challenge to rates for the transportation of coal by Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP). The second complaint, filed by DeBruce Grain, Inc. (DeBruce), concerned UP’s service in handling DeBruce’s grain traffic.
Under the law, the Board has jurisdiction to review complaints about railroad rates and service levels. Although the Board has exercised that jurisdiction in several cases, both Board Chairman Morgan and Vice Chairman Gus A. Owen have publicly expressed their preference for negotiated private-sector dispute resolution wherever possible. In these cases, the parties reached negotiated settlements, and the Board therefore closed the matters.
The Board’s decisions were issued today in
Sierra Pacific Power Company and Idaho Power Company v. Union Pacific Railroad Company
, No. 42012, and in
DeBruce Grain, Inc. v. Union Pacific Railroad Company
, No. 42023.
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