Oxbow Mining filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Tuesday against Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying the railroads conspired to raise prices on customers like the Elk Creek coal mine near Somerset that Oxbow runs.
Oxbow said in the lawsuit that the two biggest railroads in the western U.S. worked to avoid direct competition with each other to keep rates high. Oxbow also claims CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads conspired on rates, but they are not included in the lawsuit.
In a separate development, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has agreed to let operations at Elk Creek Mine continue for another year, with a condition that Oxbow study the feasibility of mitigating, capturing or using methane that’s vented during mining.
WildEarth Guardians had raised concerns about the gas going into the air.
