WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., is calling on the federal government to require competitive switching between railroads to better serve shippers. Last week, Baldwin introduced the Rail Shipper Fairness Act that aims to reduce cost…
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/06/01-competitive-switching
A thought. Would this really hurt competition between Class 1s ? Now if we take some of the regionals doing the switching that might be a game changer ?
Concerning the current composition of the Congress, I would be incredibly surprised if this bill even gets called up in committee.
Dead as a do-do bird. So much of the claims are baseless, coming from the same people clammoring for re-regulation (and higher shipping rates?).
We have choice with Cell Phones, Electricity,Gas and other utlities
You can change who generates the electricity but the delivery is by your local utility. I don’t think many have a choice in who delivers your gas either.
Very prominently displayed on my electric bill is “delivery.” It’s as much, or more than the power being delivered…
You might have a choice in your water source–put a well in your yard.
I doubt that you have any choice in your sewer service;if you live in an incorporated community; you might find it difficult to legally put a septic tank in your yard.
They want you to THINK you have a choice. It’s all a shill game.
Considering that there are places now telling their residents they can’t legally collect the rainwater running off their roofs… I’m not so sure you could get away with drilling a well in your back yard…
Around here, the chief reason for installing water systems seems to be due to contamination of the groundwater…
I wonder: what authority does any community really have to forbid making use of the rainwater which falls on your property?
For eight years, my mother washed our clothes in rainwater which was collected in tubs placed under the eaves of our house. Only after two of my older brothers, my youngest brother, and I ran a waterline from the town water system were we able to stop carrying water from the pump next door for our household needs.
I learned quite a bit after those two brothers came back from military service–carpentr
If there happens to be a choice, it is purely on a voluntary basis that multiple providers enter the market. In the case of many utilities and private railroads, no alternate provider enters the market. The key point is that there is no right for consumers to have a choice of providers.
Competitive switching amounts to a law that creates an entitlement for consumers to have a choice. It is based on the presumption that when there is only one provider, it is free to charge the consumer more than what is fair. Competitive switching requires such providers to share their market with competing companies who will provide the service at a lower price in order to get their market share.
But here is the question: When the government forces a private railroad to share their market with a competitor, why should the competitor lower their price by more than a penny? They will get the business no matter what they charge as long as it is less than what the host railroad charged before the new law went into effect.
So, will the consumer be satisfied with a one-penny reduction in price; or will they come to believe that both companies are overcharging them? If it is the latter, then what will they ask the government to do about that?
Apparently, quite a bit: http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/rainwater-harvesting.aspx
From the link:
I th
Somebody paid Senator Tammy Baldwin off at some point or gave her a large campaign contribution. No way would she even be remotely interested in this legislation as there are virtually no Chemical Industry shippers in Wisconsin that care about this. This is an issue in Texas, LA, and the Chemical Coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Answer me this, what large Chemical shipper is in Wisconsin?
All around sad.
A fair number of public utilities are interested in this legislation in a push for mandated competitive rates for trainloads of steam coal to power plants.
OK so maybe Wisconsin Electric or whatever it is called. Still to me seems more like an out of state interest as when I lived there I never heard of WE complaining about haulage rates only rail service delays due to bad weather and not enough stock piled coal…that was a long time ago though…back in the BN-Milw days of coal hauling.
I have always found it facinating that industries and organizations that have a monopoly in their own fields complain the most about having to deal with a single source for transportation.
I would agree with your statement, about Sen.Tammy Baldwin, this one seems pretty far out of her wheelhouse…
Here is a linked site: "Mother Jones/ Map: Is There a Risky Chemical Plant Near You? “One year after a fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, killed 15 people, pinpointing potentially hazardous sites remains tricky.”
Also a search of " Chemical plants in Wisconsin" shows that primarily they are located from the SE corner of the State of Wisconsin and North to Green Bay. Seem to be within about 100(+) miles of Milwaukee…
(disclaimer) [Admittedly, the two maps linked above, are designed to ‘scare’, and give the ‘anti’ crowd some ammunition, but they are showing some interesting data(?). Certainly, even if it is a ‘slanted position’. ]
I think a better search would be plants that USE dangerous chemicals and watch people scream. You would be amazed at what gets used where for things. I still laugh at that one State trooper wanting to shut down the highway for a Phosphoric acid tanker that overturned around here a while back. My driver is pumping it off not even wearing breathing protection he is dressed as required and the cop is wanting to evacuate the area. My driver hands him a Coke bottle and says read the dang ingrediants officer. Yet we walk around with one of the most dangerous inventions inches from our head all the time. The simple lithium ion battery pack. What am I talking about those are thermally unstable when they fail they overheat and can burn.
Hope you don’t allow them in your trucks.