BN is heavily subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, harms the environment, exploits its workers and hurts small business. Critics wonder why the company is given such free rein.
Like any successful business rogue, Burlington Northern is a major player in the game of Washington influence peddling. Its various political action committees contribute almost $1 million a year to a cross-section of the Congress and Senate, with the largest donations going to representatives from states with a major BN presence. Last year, for example, BN’s railroad political action committee contributed $10,000 to Sen. James Exxon (D-NE) and $9,000 to Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). Burlington Resources has its own political action committee, as do several of its subsidiaries. BN’s efforts are supplemented by the industry group Association of American Railroads, which gives generous donations at election time, and which is supported by Burlington Northern.
Over the past twelve years, BN has been given federal encouragement to mechanize people out of jobs and export valuable resources tax-free to foreign countries, while the Bush administration and industry hammered spotted owls and “jobs vs. the environment” arguments into the public psyche. Many people are no longer buying this rhetoric.
Don Driscoll – mayor of Havre, Montana – has seen his community devastated by BN job cuts. Driscoll says bluntly, “Jobs are not being created [by increased logging] and don’t let anybody tell you they are. Corporate America needs to examine its soul. All I see inside [BN officers’] heads is numbers jumping over numbers. What about American workers and their families?”
Dr. John Osborne – President of Spokane, Washington-based Inland Empire Public Lands Council – thinks he has the solution to the problem of Burlington Northern. “If BN has not lived up to the letter and spirit of [its] Land Grant, [Burlington Northern] should forfeit [its] lands,” he says. By law, Congress can force Burlington Northern to do just that, as soon as it finds the courage to do so.
Mike said:BN is heavily subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, harms the environment, exploits its workers and hurts small business. Critics wonder why the company is given such free rein.
Like any successful business rogue, Burlington Northern is a major player in the game of Washington influence peddling. Its various political action committees contribute almost $1 million a year to a cross-section of the Congress and Senate, with the largest donations going to representatives from states with a major BN presence. Last year, for example, BN’s railroad political action committee contributed $10,000 to Sen. James Exxon (D-NE) and $9,000 to Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). Burlington Resources has its own political action committee, as do several of its subsidiaries. BN’s efforts are supplemented by the industry group Association of American Railroads, which gives generous donations at election time, and which is supported by Burlington Northern.
Over the past twelve years, BN has been given federal encouragement to mechanize people out of jobs and export valuable resources tax-free to foreign countries, while the Bush administration and industry hammered spotted owls and “jobs vs. the environment” arguments into the public psyche. Many people are no longer buying this rhetoric.
Don Driscoll – mayor of Havre, Montana – has seen his community devastated by BN job cuts. Driscoll says bluntly, “Jobs are not being created [by increased logging] and don’t let anybody tell you they are. Corporate America needs to examine its soul. All I see inside [BN officers’] heads is numbers jumping over numbers. What about American workers and their families?”
Dr. John Osborne – President of Spokane, Washington-based Inland Empire Public Lands Council – thinks he has the solution to the problem of Burlington Northern. “If BN has not lived up to the letter and spirit of [its] Land Grant, [Burlington Northern] should forfeit [its] lands,” he says. By law, Congress can force Burlington Northern to do just that, as soon as it finds the courage to do so.