"Webb, who is among the thousands of farmers who depend on the river system to get their crop to market said customers need to be ensured of getting the wheat they need while farmers need to be protected against price gouging by rail providers."

Hmmm....I'm sensitive to the needs of farmers being one myself (although I don't grow wheat), but I always start to squirm when I hear this kind of statement. It sounds like a prelude to a charge of "gouging" if the railroads have the nerve to make any kind of profit on the move. I'm reminded of when the growers on the Camas Prairie complained loudly when Railnet tried to abandon the Grangeville line. They didn't want to actually USE the line...trucks were more convenient because they could be loaded on-farm, saving the transload at the railhead. They just wanted the railroad there as a POTENTIAL competitor to keep the trucking rates low. And they thought Railnet should pay to keep the line in place for their convenience.