Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 9, 1995                   TAG: 9503090088
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

NORFOLK - A $100 million coal storage facility that Norfolk Southern Corp. for five years has sought permission to build was put on hold Wednesday because of a soft market for coal exports.

The coal yard, which Isle of Wight County government and business leaders support, would hold up to 40 million tons of coal a year on a 1,600-acre site near Windsor.

The coal eventually would be shipped to Norfolk Southern's Lamberts Point docks in Norfolk for loading onto colliers bound mostly for ports abroad.

But the overseas market hasn't generated the kind of demand for coal that the transportation company envisioned when it announced plans for the storage yard in 1990, said NS spokesman Robert Fort.

``We can't proceed with actual construction until that market shows signs of changing,'' he said, adding that the company did not have a timetable for when the project might be built.

- Associated Press

Carriers propose to limit charges

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators will review a proposal by smaller long-distance companies to limit their charges for long-distance calls from pay phones and hotels, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The proposal to the Federal Communications Commission appeared to be a response to a decision by 24 state attorneys general last month to ask the FCC to require pay-phone operators to disclose charges to consumers before they connect the calls.

In many cases, the state officials said, callers who don't dial into their regular long-distance provider are unaware that some of the secondary carriers charge up to 10 times as much as AT&T, Sprint or MCI.

The charges involve long-distance calls made from privately owned pay phones at airports, bars and hotels.

The proposed limits, which range from $3.75 for a one-minute call to $7 for a call nine minutes long, were presented in a private meeting with FCC officials Tuesday.

- Associated Press