JOC Staff | Jan 11, 2013 11:06AM EST
Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s decision to not seek a sixth tem will cost shippers looking to push back against major U.S. railroad’s pricing in Congress.
The Democratic senator from West Virginia has aggressively pushed the Surface Transportation Board to regulate railroads more, despite the majority of his fellow Senate members showing little interest in doing so. The biggest congressional threat to Class I railroads in 2013 is that Rockefeller will provide a venue for shippers to complain about carriers' pricing power, like he did in 2012, according to a Morgan Stanley report released late last year.
Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has seen his popularity erode after "sparring with the powerful mining industry and supporting President Barack Obama," according to the Associated Press, which reported his plan not to run for re-election before a formal announcement was made.
