Schweitzer, a Democrat, told the Surface Transportation Board in Washington that "things cannot get much worse" for Montana as the board has allowed one company, BNSF Railway Co., to monopolize rail shipping in the state.
"Regulatory oversight of the railroads, or lack of it, affects everything we do in Montana, every day," he told the regulators.
"One shipper should not be charged more than the actual fuel allocated to the movement of their goods," he said.
Tom Hund, executive vice president and chief financial officer of BNSF, told the board Thursday that the company has not fully recovered fuel costs "above the threshold price at which the surcharge takes effect."
Hund said that the surcharges are based on the historical average cost of highway diesel fuel, which "have a high correlation" to BNSF's price of diesel fuel.
Schweitzer said BNSF controls more than 90 percent of the rail traffic in Montana. In the past 30 years, over 1,900 miles of rail line has been abandoned because there is no railroad competition, he said. Because of the long travel distances in the state and the importance of shipping agricultural goods to Montana's economy, Schweitzer said the situation has become critical.
After the hearing, the governor said he is waiting to see if the board, an independent agency that is affiliated with the Department of Transportation, will decide that BNSF is slapping shippers with fuel surcharges that are too high.
Board member Francis P. Mulvey pledged board members are "looking at the way the board does things and the way we approach our analyses."
Schweitzer said that if the board does not take action, "we're going to get to lawyering."
"We'll take it to court if necessary," he said.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has introduced legislation in the Senate that would encourage more competition on the rails. He announced this week that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will look into the issue.
"Our critical mass for getting some kind of legislation is getting better every day," he said Thursday. "We are getting there, it just takes time."
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