BILLINGS, Mont. — A Native American-owned coal company has sued BNSF Railway for breach of contract, claiming the railroad’s preferential treatment of other mines cost it more than $150 million in revenue and $15 million in demurrage penalties in 2022.
In a suit filed Monday in federal district court in Montana, Navajo Transitional Energy Co., or NTEC, says it had a contract with BNSF to move up to 5.5 million tons of coal from its Spring Creek Mine in Montana to the Westshore Terminals in Delta, British Columbia, for export to Japan and Korea. As of the end of November, however, BNSF had moved just 2.99 million tons, even though NTEC had already sold 4.6 million tons.
NTEC alleges performance of its trains fell while BNSF’s service generally improved on the route to the terminal in Delta, and that BNSF reduced the percentage of trains available to NTEC while increasing service to its competitors. Those competitors were able to sell coal to NTEC customers on the spot market, the suit says.
“BNSF is, simply put, abusing its monopoly power and picking winners and losers. And it’s not only at the expense of our business and our customers, but at the expense of the Navajo Nation,” Matt Babcock, NTEC’s vice president of sales and marketing, said in a press release.
NTEC, created by the Navajo Nation, provides the Navajo with direct economic support of approximately $50 million per year, the company says, or more than 30% of its general fund on an annual basis. The company says BNSF’s service issues negatively affected its ability to deliver on contracts, meet revenue proejcts and provide that annual support.
A railroad spokeswoman declined to comment when contacted by the Associated Press.
The Navajo should investigate if they have any claims to the land BNSF operates on in Arizona and New Mexico. Tit for tat is quicker than USDC.
The Navajo should investigate if they have any claims to the Rig
Just more ammo to the STB. Wonder if this lack of service be considered a single shipper embargo?. Certainly smells like one! BNSF will certainly not be dragged into the UP embargosI
What!!!!!! A railroad not holding up to its end of a bargain…… no . The railroads flap their jaws all day long about customer service but articles like this far outweigh articles about the railroads doing a job well done. They tell the government and the media they need every chance they can get to be competitive yet all they do to themselves is cut their own throats at every opportunity they can possibly get. It’s really too bad because it’s not the railroad industry I hired out into .
If this suit has merit uncle Warren is not going to be happy.
That is not a good look.
No problem, have California Governor Newnothing declare the Indians honorary state citizens and give each tribe member and future generations $350,000.00 reparations and bankrupt the insane state
Indians are the real environmentalists? A New Mexico-Arizona tribe owning an evil Montana coal mine?
While it seems to me that the Navajo company has a good case, it is also interesting that BNSF is leaving money on the table. You might think they would want to handle all of this business, rather than “picking winers and losers.” What a state these freight railroads are in!
Not unless the Navajo’s negotiated a haulage rate that was near the bottom of the market. Then just like the way Class 1’s treat Amtrak, the lesser paying client gets pushed to the back of the line.