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>From the Surface Transportation Board, Washington, D.C.
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The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it will hold a March
22, 2012 public hearing to explore the impact of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.
(Berkshire)'s acquisition of the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on certain
costing determinations. Berkshire paid $43 billion for the 2010
acquisition of BNSF. The Board will look at the effect of this price on
its annual Uniform Rail Costing System (URCS) and revenue-adequacy findings
for BNSF.
URCS is the Board's general purpose
rail costing system used annually
to estimate variable and total unit
costs for Class I railroads (the
Nation's largest). The Western
Coal Traffic League (WCTL), and
other parties, argues that BNSF's
acquisition price produced an $8.1
billion write-up in the railroad's
net investment base for URCS
costing purposes, and decreased
BNSF's 2010 annual depreciation
calculations by $128 million. WCTL
suggests that the Board should,
beginning with its 2010 findings,
adjust BNSF's URCS costs by
removing the $8.1 billion write-up
and correspondingly adjusting the
railroad's annual depreciation.
The hearing will begin at 9:30
a.m., in the Board's Hearing Room
at the agency's headquarters
located at 395 E Street, SW in
Washington, D.C. Parties wishing
to participate must file a notice
of intent to participate
(identifying the party, proposed
speaker, and speaking time
requested) no later than March 6,
2012.
The Board's notice announcing the
hearing was issued to the public
today in the proceeding entitled
Western Coal Traffic
League—Petition for Declaratory
Order, FD 35506
( http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/42176?OpenDocument )
. The notice will be published in
the Federal Register and is
available for viewing and
downloading on the agency's
website, www.stb.dot.gov. Live
video of the hearing will be
available on the website.
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