SPI PRESS STATEMENT

Good morning everyone, I am Maureen Healey, Director of Transportation Issues for The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI). SPI takes great pride in joining with the The Texas Chemical Council, the Railroad Commission of Texas, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Kansas City Southern Railway and the Texas Mexican Railway Company to submit this "Consensus Plan" to the Surface Transportation Board.

This filing today is about service and competition. The shipper community has suffered enough in trying to gain reliable rail service in the Houston/ Gulf Coast area. Currently, the UP controls over 87 percent of the traffic moving to the Southeast. If adopted, this Consensus Plan will infuse competition into the Gulf Coast area by allowing a third rail carrier to provide much needed rail service and infrastructure to an area that, to date, has seen little, if any, effects of the "improved" Union Pacific service. We cannot wait any longer.

This submission is made in response to the invitation of the STB, whereby, all concerned parties were asked to submit requests for new remedial conditions to be imposed on the UP/SP merger to address service and competitive problems not adequately remedied by the conditions originally imposed by the Board. We welcomed that opportunity, and we want to applaud the STB for its recognition of the need to consider proposals for new merger conditions.

To talk for a minutes about the process that played-out over the last several months. The parties signing this document today represent a broad spectrum of shippers, communities and railroads that all have one element in common: grievous harm has been inflicted by the "virtual shutdown of service in the Houston/Gulf Coast area." The shutdown, as most of you are aware, has cost the Texas economy millions, if not billions of dollars.

Accordingly, the collected parties here today held a series of meetings among themselves and with numerous other organization in order to develop a consensus regarding the scope of any such filing requesting additional remedial conditions. The Board has repeatedly stated its preference for consensus proposal and solution. And, it was the goal of the Consensus Parties to develop just such an agreed upon solution.

In a moment we will walk through the eight points of the Consensus Plan and answer any questions that you may have. We are very excited about this Plan, and we firmly believe this is the solution that is so desperately needed.

But first, I understand that Texas Rail Commissioner Charles Matthews has been kind enough to join us. As I have said in the past, Commissioner Matthews, when we get through this crisis, which we will, the shipper community will owe you a strong debt of gratitude. Commissioner Matthews, could I ask you to say a few words.

The STB asked all affected parties, back in April, to develop a plan that would bring permanent relief and a lasting solution to the worst hit area of the national rail service meltdown. We believe this Consensus Plan does just that.

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