Union Pacific Rail to Cut Fuel Shipments By Pilot/Flying J

Above, the Jamestown, New Mexico Flying J prices on June 5. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The other day while in Gallup, New Mexico, I noticed that the unleaded regular gasoline price there went down to $4.549 from around $4.659/gallon.

In the meantime, the local Pilot/Flying J Travel Center in Jamestown, New Mexico has been charging $4.799/gallon of unleaded regular for the past week (or a little longer).

Maybe the following is a reason why.

Coercion Code reported:

Shameek Konar, the CEO of Pilot Flying J truck stops and gas stations, explained during a hearing that on April 13, Pilot Flying J was informed by Union Pacific Railways (UP) that the company was “required to reduce shipments by 26 percent.” Then, in subsequent conversations, UP asked them to reduce rail shipments even further by 50 percent or face embargoes. Konar said that the reductions will significantly impact the availability of fuel and fuel prices. Pilot Flying J supplies roughly 30% of diesel exhaust fuel (DEF) in the country. The trucking sector of our economy depends on DEF as all trucks manufactured after 2010 cannot operate without it, and the cut in deliveries will heavily impact the trucking industry.

According to Konar, no other companies are being instructed by UP or any other railroad to reduce their shipments to the extent that UP demands Pilot Flying J. Union Pacific’s largest shareholders are Vanguard and BlackRock. UP also recently reduced shipments of fertilizer to farmers. Internet critic Jim Stone suggested that Pilot Flying J knowingly caused the problem by changing their paperwork to jam up the system, resulting in a steep loss in service. He wrote that both Pilot Flying J and UP are elite owned and proposed that both companies are acting as a tag team, putting on a show to intentionally cause serious problems.

Is Washington (i.e., the Biden Administration) pressuring Union Pacific to force shipping cuts on Pilot/Flying J? It seems that it could be a possibility (it really wouldn't surprise me in the least). They would like nothing better to force people into electric cars.

We'll have to keep an eye on this one! I smell a big rat!

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