Robber Barons Redux? 0
This should be interesting:
Hattiesburg-based South Mississippi Electric Power Association said Norfolk Southern is the only railroad company that delivers coal from the Appalachias to Plant Morrow, the utility’s main electricity generating station located in Purvis, Miss.
Contract negotiations for the utility’s new delivery contract are under way.
The first Federal regulatory body of any consequence was the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was created because of railroads’ abuse of their customers in the late 19th century.
On the railroad, there is a truism that every safety rule–and there are hundreds–resulted from an injury.
The caterwaulings of the right wing to the contrary, US history shows us that every Federal regulatory agency was created in reaction to abusive practices by business.
It will be interesting to see how this case plays out. Given that freight railroads run on diesel, I suspect that fuel prices have played a lot in the price increases over the years. Nevertheless, even when I worked for the railroad (and I loved working there–all railroaders love the railroad, even though they may hate their employer), I never saw a railroader with angel wings.
I’m betting that this is as much as negotiating tactic as anything else and that the case never goes to trial.
