FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
07/07/2005 (Thursday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 05-21	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

Surface Transportation Board To Hold July 27 Oral Argument in "Otter Tail Power Co." v. "BNSF" Rail Rate-Reasonableness Complaint

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober has announced that the agency will hold a Wednesday, July 27, 2005 oral argument in the railroad rate-reasonableness complaint entitled Otter Tail Power Company v. BNSF Railway Company, STB Docket No. 42071.

The STB will hold the oral argument at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27, in Room 760, the agency's hearing room, on the 7th Floor of the agency's headquarters in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

The STB announced its scheduling of the oral argument in a decision issued on July 1, 2005 in STB Docket No. 42071. That decision is available for viewing and downloading via the agency's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov. Printed copies of the agency's decisions also are available for a fee by contacting ASAP Document Solutions, 9332 Annapolis Rd., Suite 103, Lanham, MD 20706, telephone (202) 306-4004, or via asapdc@verizon.net. A fact sheet is attached.

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ATTACHMENT
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FACT SHEET

Otter Tail Power Company v. BNSF Railway Company, STB Docket No. 42071

At issue in this proceeding is the reasonableness of the rates charged by the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) for the transportation of unit-train movements (an entire train of railroad cars dedicated to the shipments of a particular shipper) of coal from mine origins in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming to the Otter Tail Power Company's (Otter Tail) Big Stone Generating Station located near Milbank, South Dakota.

Otter Tail, the complainant, will open the oral argument and may reserve part of its speaking time of 40 minutes for rebuttal, if it chooses. BNSF will have 40 minutes of argument time.

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