As you know, a small group of large companies that are unhappy with their shipping rates are trying to reregulate the rail industry. These companies want the government to step in and lower their rates.

The U.S. Senate is likely to consider one of these proposals in the next few days and we need your help RIGHT NOW!

This proposal, S. 772, would remove the very limited exemptions that railroads (like many U.S. industries) have from antitrust law.

This bill is a solution looking for a problem. The truth is that freight railroads are subject to most antitrust laws. And, when the railroads were deregulated in 1980, these very limited exemptions were kept in place for a simple reason – railroads were already subject to similar regulation under the Surface Transportation Board (STB). In fact, the STB is the regulatory agency that Congress created specifically to resolve railroad rate and service disputes, review proposed railroad mergers, and implement national rail policy.

Our opponents are looking for every opportunity to attack railroads and this bill gives them exactly what they want. S. 772 would expand the government’s oversight over railroads by giving new regulatory authority to the FTC and the DOJ ed by the STB, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice. So, if a company doesn’t like what the STB tells them, they can go to a number of other agencies to get a different answer. And, if they’re still not happy, they could go to the courts, too.

This type of over-regulation make the rules unpredictable for the railroads and will scare away investors that railroads need in order to be able to maintain their infrastructure and expand capacity. Expanding railroads mean more jobs, a stronger rail retirement system, greater fuel economy, fewer pollutants, and less highway congestion.

Let Congress know you oppose this over-regulation by clicking here, editing the draft letter we’ve written for you, and sending it to your Senators and Representatives in Washington.