The ongoing merger discussions between Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific, two of North America's largest railway companies, has Sen. Joe Manchin uneasy.
Manchin announced Tuesday morning that he would hold a congressional hearing on the proposed merger between the two railway giants that was first announced in November.
With Norfolk Southern maintaining one of only two railroad operations in West Virginia, along with CSX, Manchin is very concerned that Canadian Pacific's takeover could lead to job cuts and divestment in critical infrastructure points in the state.
The push for a congressional hearing comes less than a week after CSX announced that it would be transferring 121 administrative jobs to other regional offices.
Of particular concern to Manchin is the Heartland Intermodal Gateway, a $30 million truck-to-rail loading facility, that was completed last month on 78 acres of land near in Wayne County.
Norfolk Southern currently operates the trains that are loaded and unloaded at the facility from businesses within 100 miles of the rail yard, but if the merger ends that operation, the $12 million in federal funding and the state's $18 million investment in the project could be wasted.
The transportation facility's ability to double stack cargo containers is unique for southern West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky, which has had its rails dominated by coal shipments for decades. Coal still takes up a large portion of Norfolk Southern's cargo in West Virginia, including 96 percent of outbound traffic 41 percent of inbound freight.
During his press conference Tuesday, Manchin said he was concerned that a merger would lead the managers of Canadian Pacific to "cannibalize" and "wring the profits" from Norfolk Southern for the "greed of Wall Street."
"If there is anything in my power to stop that, I will do it," he said.
As a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Manchin said he plans to reach out to other congressional leaders in the states where Norfolk Southern operates, including Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Norfolk Southern currently operates in 22 states that span from Florida to Michigan and Mississippi to New York, including 806 miles of track in the West Virginia. The company employs 990 people in the state and supports another 430 retirees.
With their expansive service territory, Manchin said he is concerned that the company's less-profitable operations in the West Virginia region could be abandoned in order to increase profits for Canadian Pacific's shareholders.
"They could care less what it does for the security of our nation or the economy," Manchin said.
There is currently no evidence that severe cuts would be made to Norfolk Southern if it is taken over, Manchin said, but he singled out the professional history of some of Canadian Pacific's board of directors, including William Ackman and Hunter Harrison, the company's chief executive officer.
Since Harrison took over the railroad company, Manchin pointed out that it had cut more than 6,000 jobs - 12 percent of its workforce - including 1,000 positions last week.
Manchin said he plans to ask Ackman and Harrison to attend the congressional hearing, but if they refuse to participate, he said they would push to have them summoned through a congressional subpoena.
Earlier this month, Canadian Pacific asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into the communication between other railroad companies in the United States that have come out in opposition to the proposed merger, which now stands at more than $30 billion.
Manchin said he didn't know whether the Department of Justice's Anti Trust Division was looking into Canadian Pacific's acquisition attempts, but he said those are the type of things he hopes to uncover in the congressional hearing.
"The United States Senate and Congress should be the balancing power here," Manchin said.
Reach Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4814 or follow @Andy_Ed_Brown on Twitter.