Western Coal Traffic League and Its Members v. United States of America and Interstate Commerce Commission

The words of the 4-R statute are refreshingly simple and direct: market dominance exists when there is “an absence of effective competition from other carriers or modes of transportation for the traffic or movement to which a rate applies ” (emphasis added). 49 U.S.C. § 10709(a) (Supp. IV 1980).1 Congress gave the Commission no *781power to reinterpret these plain words but only the authority for 240 days to adopt “standards and procedures” for determining “whether and when a carrier possesses market dominance over a service rendered or to be rendered at a particular rate or rates.” 49 U.S.C. §…