TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

ASA Position

Rail – ASA supports efforts to improve rail competition and address the rail transportation needs of agriculture. ASA believes meaningful reform and relief can be best accomplished through passage of legislation focused on reforming the Surface Transportation Board (STB), improving competitive conditions in the industry, and providing meaningful access to rate and service relief mechanisms. ASA supports S.2889, “The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2009.” The bill seeks to increase rail industry competition, improve federal oversight, and enhance rail customer access to regulatory relief. ASA is working with the relevant committees of jurisdiction and urging Members of Congress to reach agreement on a rail package that is beneficial to agricultural shippers.

Waterways – The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) enacted in 2007 included authorization for the upgrade and construction of locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers.  However, funding for the projects must now be provided through the annual federal appropriations process and/or reform of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Any funding plan must include assurances that projects important to agriculture, such as modernization of the locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River system, will receive significant funding in the near term. Agricultural interests contribute a significant share of the fuel tax funding used to finance waterways projects, but historically have not received a proportionate share of the benefits for the projects important to agriculture. 

Highway – The Federal Surface Transportation legislation is overdue for reauthorization.  However, other legislative priorities and a lack of consensus on the mechanism to fund highway and transit programs make it uncertain as to when a new surface transportation bill will be enacted. Issues of specific concern to ASA are the federal hours of service exemption for agriculture and minimum truck weight limits. ASA supports maintaining the hours of service exemption that currently exists for agricultural producers. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has called for repeal of the hours of service exemption. ASA is also monitoring the truck weight limit issues to ensure that federal weight limit laws are set appropriately.

Background

Railroads – Since the Staggers Rail Act deregulated the rail industry in 1980, Class I railroads have reduced 50% of their track – from 200,000 miles to 100,000 miles. Due to railroad mergers, the number of Class I railroads has plunged from 42 in 1980 to six today, including four majors: Union Pacific/Southern Pacific and the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe in the West; and CSX/Conrail and Norfolk Southern/Conrail in the East. These four Class I railroads own 90 percent of the track and control over 94 percent of rail revenue. With this concentration of railroad marketing power, agriculture producers find themselves increasingly captive to the railroads.

As captive shipper levels have increased, the quality of rail service to agriculture has declined, and the cost of service has increased significantly. Soybean producers and virtually all agriculture production are impacted by the lack of rail competition.

To bring about relief for rail shippers, ASA supports reform of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). The STB regularly emphasizes railroad revenue needs and protections over the interests of shippers and the need for competition in the marketplace. As a result of minimal effective oversight by the STB, railroad behavior in the marketplace and business relations between railroads and their customers have been adversely affected. These inadequacies extend to producers of agricultural goods in the form of lower prices due to higher freight rates or lack of available space to transport their products.

ASA also participates in the Soy Transportation Coalition and monitors rail competition legislation introduced in Congress. 

Waterways – The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) reauthorization was enacted in 2007.  The legislation authorized $2.2 billion in funding for construction of new 1,200-foot locks at Locks 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25 on the Upper Mississippi and at LaGrange and Peoria Locks on the Illinois. An additional $1.7 billion was authorized for ecosystem restoration. The funding for the projects is contingent upon annual federal appropriations and/or reform of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. 

Our lock and dam system was constructed during the New Deal to handle 600-foot barge tows. Nearly 60 years later, today’s barge tows have doubled to 1200 feet, requiring the tow to be split and sent through one section at a time. In addition to reducing cost, upgrading the Mississippi and Illinois waterways would create and protect jobs. 

Highway – The federal surface transportation law establishes policy and funding for highway and transit programs. The bill is subject to reauthorization every 6 years, and the current authorization expired in 2009. The law exempts agricultural carriers from the hours-of-service regulations if they operate within a 100-mile radius from their central base of operation. The flexibility provided by this exemption is needed in the agricultural industry to “finish the job” during the busy planting and harvest seasons, when weather patterns do not comply with normal work schedules. Elimination of this exemption would not only increase agricultural operating costs and reduce transportation efficiency, but it could also create safety issues during harvest and planting seasons if producers are required to hire more temporary and possibly less experienced drivers.