A US Surface Transportation Board order to make public a coal-specific service recovery plan would be "counterproductive" and "unnecessary," BNSF Railway told the agency, arguing it is taking the necessary steps to improve coal service as utilities face severe shortages ahead of winter.
BNSF had been ordered by the STB to respond by November 3 to a petition filed by the Western Coal Traffic League calling for the agency to demand the railroad provide detailed schedules for restoration of adequate coal service and detailed plans on how it would handle severe weather events, seasonal variations and other disruptions.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier said it is making "significant efforts" in the short and long-term to improve velocity for its coal customers. BNSF said an STB order requiring more disclosure could counter those efforts by "further stressing our network and interfering with the efficient allocation of resources."
US utility coal stockpiles are 23% down from 2013 levels at 117.1 million st for the week ending October 23, according to Bentek Energy, a division of Platts. Much of the shortfall has been attributed to rail service issues for deliveries from the Powder River Basin, which is served by BNSF and Union Pacific, along with the significant weather-related demand last winter.
"At the very least, board action, as proposed by the WCTL, focused solely on coal service, has the potential to skew service recovery towards coal shippers who are members of WCTL at the expense of shippers who are not," Roger Nober, BNSF's executive vice president for law and corporate affairs, wrote in a letter dated Tuesday.
In its letter, BNSF said its customers hold some responsibility for depleted stockpile levels.
"We note, however, that rail service is not the only contributing factor to stockpile levels and ... our customers have a role to play here," Nober wrote. "Customer decisions to dispatch a coal-fired plant at a particular level are ultimately economic decisions, and the market for coal generation and transportation has changed dramatically in the last 18 months."
BNSF laid out actions it has taken to date, including $5 billion in capital investment, $1 billion in capacity expansion, short-term maintenance and forming rapid response teams to handle winter emergencies.
The carrier will deliver about 24 million st of coal in October, its highest total since August 2013, it said.
But the steps detailed in the letter fell short of what the WCTL asked for, a plan which would include target dates for completion, along with potential enforcement actions for not meeting obligations.
In its petition, WCTL cited the board's authority to "review, revise and approve any such plan" along with the ability to levy fines for not filing required reports or failing to comply with board orders.
WCTL's request for a service recovery plan is one of the strongest steps that could be taken to hold the carrier accountable, said Bob Szabo, a Washington-based attorney for VanNess Feldman, who represents shippers.
"Today, there's not very much law in the hands of any agency by which they can order the railroad to do things," Szabo said. "They can order them to file reports, but unless there's a real circumscribed emergency, they can't order them to carry freight."
Szabo said it was "laughable" that BNSF suggested its customers hold some responsibility for depleted stockpile levels.
"It's very typical for BNSF to blame its customers for not doing enough to offset the failures of its service levels," he said. "It's astounding that the industry would blame its customers, yet they do that all the time."
