Opinion ID: 1495221
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Effect on Existing Transportation Facilities

Text: The Commission must consider the effect of the grant of a common carrier certificate on existing facilities. 35 M.R.S.A. § 1552. After so considering here, the Commission found that the grant of authority would entail some traffic loss by Sanborn (although not to the extent of the $50,000 claimed), but concluded that the proposed service would promote new revenue by eliminating the need for private trips to Portland. It further concluded that the need for the proposed service outweighed the effect it would have on existing facilities. The intervenors now argue that the adverse effect on Sanborn's revenues will be substantial and that as the Commission failed to consider adequately the effect of the additional authority, its decree should be reversed. The statute does not prescribe rigid quantitative standards, but leaves the evaluation of the effect of competition to the discretion of the Commission. Again, it is a question of the Commission's accommodation of the conflicting policies of public utility law. The Commission may permit competition, having broad discretion when deciding to what extent competition is needed and its probable effect on existing carriers. In re Lefebvre, 343 A.2d at 208. We note, as the Commission doubtless did, that the entire Sanborn system earned a $1 million profit in 1973. The Commission specifically rejected as too high Sanborn's $50,000 estimation of loss from the route. The record convincingly demonstrates that the figures submitted by Sanborn are speculative. The record does not show that Sanborn's service will be curtailed as a result of Swan's authority. The record strongly suggests that the route now generates sufficient revenue to support two carriers, and the Commission found that the additional service would increase that revenue. No evidence of any abuse of discretion is apparent in the Commission's decree. The entry will be: Appeal denied.