TARIFFS

New or changed rates, fares, and other provisions are filed by the carriers in the form of tariffs which are made available for public examination. Any interested party to file a protest and request suspension and investigation of proposed tariffs. Generally, the issue of whether to defer the effectiveness of carriers' rate proposals is acted upon by the Suspension and Fourth Section Board whose decisions may be appealed to a three-member division of the Commission. A total of 3,737 rate adjustments involving 6,764 tariffs of rail, motor, freight forwarder, pipeline, and express carriers was considered by the Suspension and Fourth Section Board. Disposition of these cases may be found on page 104.

During the fiscal year the Board also considered 320 proposed (nonprotested) adjustments upon its own motion. Some were referred to the Board by the Consumer Unit in the Section of Tariffs and the remainder were initiated by the Board. A total of 239 of these adjustments were suspended, 4 were not suspended but placed under investigation, 71 were neither suspended nor investigated, and 6 were voluntarily cancelled by the carriers before being acted upon.

Assistance to individual consumers, travelers, and small shippers was given in hundreds of instances. This reflects the Commission's continuing awareness that informal assistance, in addition to the avenues provided in formal proceedings, must be available to the unsophisticated, occasional user of transportation services. Recovery of overcharges in excess of $80,000 was obtained for consumers under our informal procedures.

Establishment of a telephone "hot-line" has provided consumers a direct connection to our Bureau of Traffic employees who could render rate and tariff information. Callers have sought information and assistance concerning a wide range of transportation problems. This service is especially helpful to those shippers, travelers, and small transportation companies lacking in transportation expertise.

Advisory opinions in the interpretation of tariffs in the settlement of many controversies between shippers and carriers, saving time and money for the disagreeing parties as well as for the Government. Approximately 3,500 cases concerning rate and tariff applications were resolved informally during the fiscal year.

We also processed 450 applications and registrations by railroads requesting authority to refund freight charges already collected or to waive collection on the grounds of admitted unreasonableness. Such refunds and waivers amounted to $1,200,000. The largest single award was one of $188,897 involving 267 shipments of blood-collecting containers.

Section 20(11) of the act provides that carriers may not limit their liability for damage to shipments, except as authorized by the Commission to maintain rates dependent upon the value declared by the shipper, which shall limit recovery to the amount declared. Such authorization is granted by the issuance of released rates orders. Sixty applications to establish rates based on released value were processed during the fiscal year. Disposition of these applications may be found on page 104.

Computerization

A computerized commodity tariff of the Central and Southern Motor Freight Tariff Association became effective for the account of various motor carriers February 7, 1975. It contains rates on various commodities via motor carrier and combined motor carrier-rail routes fom southern points to destinations in the central section of the United States.

Metric Measurement Systems

Use of the metric system of measurement by United States industry and applications of the system in transportation are gathering momentum. Meetings of the American National Metric Council and the Canadian Metric Commission have been attended by the Commission's staff. Reports are submitted to the Commission's Ad Hoc Committee on Metrication which is responsible for developing Commission direction and policy on the subject of the International System of Units (SI). There is currently in effect one tariff containing rates based on SI measurements. The tariff is published by Sea Land Service, Inc. and is applicable on rail-water movements of freight from Pacific coast terminals overland to the Atlantic coast terminal of Sea Land Service for water movement to European destinations.

Consumer Protection

Within the Tariff Examining Branch, a special unit established two years ago to review tariffs for the purpose of preventing publication of tariff provisions that might adversely affect consumer interests, has been expanded. Selected tariffs of all surface modes of transportation are

now scrutinized by this unit. Proposed tariff provisions not in full conformity with Commission decision or orders, court decisions involving Commission actions, or provisions which unlawfully limit common carriers' duties are rejected or referred to the Suspension and Fourth Section Board for possible suspension and investigation. In many instances, the proposed tariff provisions are voluntarily withdrawn by the carriers prior to the scheduled effective dates.

The number of tariff filings reviewed has greatly increased, as evidenced by the table below. The number of publications criticized and rejected has declined this year in comparison to 1974, the first full year of the program. We attribute this to the fact that carriers have become. aware of our special efforts to protect consumers and, consequently, are not attempting to include provisions in their tariffs that we might reject.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The Supreme Court's decision in the SCRAP case,' announced June 24, 1975, represented a major development in the continually evolving field of environmental law. The Court, in reversing a lower court judgment directing the Commission to reopen general revenue proceeding Ex Parte No. 281 for preparation and consideration of a more extensive environmental impact statement, held that the Commission adequately gave environmental issues in the proceeding the “hard look” required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and that its environmental review satisfied the procedural requirements of NEPA. In determining when an impact statement must be made available, the Court drew a distinction between those actions which an agency initiates by publishing a proposal and then holding hearings on the proposal, and those actions which are proposed by outside parties. The Court held that while in the former case NEPA would appear to require an impact statement to be included in the proposal and considered at the hearing, if one is held, in the latter instance the statement need not be prepared until the agency makes its recommendation or report on the proposal which, as in Ex Parte No. 281, may be sometime after the hearing. To the extent that Harlem Valley v. Stafford3 and other lower court decisions interpreted this requirement differently, they were deemed to be in conflict with NEPA.

The Court also held that inasmuch as a general revenue proceeding is concerned primarily with the railroads' need for revenue and does not per se involve consideration of the lawfulness of rates on specific commodities, it is not the proper forum in which to examine whether the Commission's underlying rate structure discriminates against recyclables. In light of the limited scope of the questions dealt with in a general revenue proceeding, it was concluded, such proceedings raise few serious environmental issues. While consideration of the lawfulness of the rates on recyclables may involve serious environmental issues, this question

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may be more appropriately addressed in Ex Parte No. 270 or in proceedings brought under Section 13 of the Interstate Commerce Act. While the end of fiscal 1975 was dominated by this important judicial development, the entire fiscal year marked an acceleration in the pace of the Commission's environmental activities as the processing of rail abandoment applications was resumed following the Harlem Valley decision. The Commission's formal interdisciplinary Environmental Staff more than doubled during the year, adding engineers, social and phyical scientists, land use and recreation planners, an economist, and a attorney. The staff has made considerable progress in reducing the large backlog of abandonment cases awaiting environmental review at the time of the Harley Valley decision. Environmental analyses were performed on approximately 140 of the more than 360 abandonment applications pending at the start of the fiscal year. After the dismissal of approximately 160 abandonment applications under the provisions of the RRRA, and the filing of more than 100 new applications during the fiscal year, the staff's case backlog stood at approximately 160 abandonments at the end of the fiscal year.

The Environmental Staff prepared and circulated for public review and comment 7 draft and 10 final environmental impact statements (EIS). Of particular note was the EIS in Docket No. 35889, Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Company-Electric Commuter Train Fares. In this proceeding, which involved a proposed average 29 percent fare increase for Chicago commuter trains, the staff developed a computer model to predict the amount of passeger diversion from commuter rail to other modes of transportation. It was concluded that aproximately 11 percent of the affected ridership would utilize alternate transport modes if the increase took effect and that motor vehicle traffic in the affected area would be increased by 2.3 percent, thus having an adverse impact on traffic congestion and on Chicago's ability to attain and maintain Federal ambient air quality standards.

Environmental studies were performed on an increasingly expanding range of Commission activities. In Ex Parte No. 252 (Sub-No. 1), Incentive Per Diem Charges-1968 (XF Cars), the staff analyzed the environmental impacts of a proposed Commission rule which would add "XF" designated boxcars to the category of equipment for which incentive per diem charges were required and prohibit the use of XF cars in assigned service. The staff-prepared Threshold Assessment Survey (TAS) concluded that the proposed rule, which would encourage the acquisition of specially designed food-quality boxcars, would reduce the use of pesti

Investigation of Railroad Freight Structure.