SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD TO HOLD HEARING ON BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY ACQUISITION OF BNSF

[STBNews@xxxxxxxxxxx]

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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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