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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by cbt141</i> <br /><br /> <br />montana does have a poor location. farmers went out there when there was no better place to go. they may have enjoyed cheap real estate advantages, solitude, beautiful country or just getting away from the in- laws, however, they willingly went to a place with a short growing season, no navigable water, the rocky mtns to the west and the dakota grain belt between themselves and the lakes to the east. [/quote] <br /> <br />cbt141, <br /> <br />I disagree with your contention that Montana has a poor location. It is closer to the PNW export facilities than other Midwest HRS/HRW grain growing regions. Up until 1970, Montana grain shippers had three railroads to provide rail competition - GN, NP, and Milwaukee. Then GN and NP merged into BN, and shortly thereafter MIlwaukee retrenched, leaving these multi-generational family farms at the mercy of a BN rail monopoly. Say what you want about government involvement (and I don't necessarily disagree with you on that subject), but it was goverment involvement that created this predatory situation by allowing the BN merger and subsequent Milwaukee retrenchment without guaranteeing the continuation of rail competition to prevent this very situation. <br /> <br />I too am generally opposed to government interference, except in cases where injustices are created by past government interference, and mitigation is warranted. <br /> <br />When UP and SP merged, the government correctly recognized that such a merger would create a single rail entity where there had formerly been two along the Central corridor, and the government correctly granted BN rights over this corridor to maintain a semblence of rail competition. One must question why the STB can recognize this need in one segment of the country and completely ingore it in another. This disparaty begs a violation of the equal protection clause of the constitution. <br /> <br />Northern Tier rail shippers deserve the same protections as Central Corridor rail shippers. Open access is the obvious solution, but having the STB grant trackage rights to a rail competitor of BNSF over one or more of the Northern Tier lines would probably suffice for now.
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