Opinion ID: 186699
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rerouting of Jeffrey Traffic

Text: 44 BNSF also argues the Board should have excluded the largest movement on the SARR — the movement of coal to Western Resources' Jeffrey plant, which currently moves on a shorter and less congested route — because Xcel did not submit competent evidence that the rerouting was reasonable and would meet the shipper's transportation needs. Tex. Mun. Power Agency v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry., STB Docket No. 42056, 2003 WL 1523335, 21-24 (STB served Mar. 24, 2003). The Board used the data in BNSF's operating plan to compare the travel times and lengths of the two routes and concluded they would provide comparable service; it also added $150 million for additional capital investment in order to cover the costs of any congestion created by moving the traffic on the SARR. Decision I, at 20-22, 30. In so doing, the Board, we think, reasonably applied its own expertise to fill a minor gap in the record. See Balt. & Ohio R.R. v. United States, 386 U.S. 372, 430, 87 S.Ct. 1100, 18 L.Ed.2d 159 (1967) (Board is not the prisoner of the parties' submissions but rather has a duty to weigh alternatives and make its choice according to its judgment how best to achieve and advance the goals of the National Transportation Policy) (Brennan, J., concurring). 45