STB: Give Rube Goldberg the Boot

摘要

Athough shippers lacking effective transportation alternatives to rail are relatively few, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) exists to protect them from market-power abuse, as railroads earn substantial margins from the traffic. The task's complexity is "Rube Goldberg," a reference to the cartoonist synonymous with accomplishing by complex means that which can be done simply. Twice-in 1995 and 2015-Congress instructed regulators to find a more direct and less costly path to the objective. Progress has been protracted. The villains are a convoluted screening process to determine which shippers are captive, and an even more tortuous Stand-Alone-Cost (SAC) test to ensure such captives do not pay "unreasonable" rates.