[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51467-51468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23963]
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. AB 400 (Sub-No. 6X)]
Seminole Gulf Railway, L.P.--Abandonment Exemption--in Sarasota
County, Fla.
Seminole Gulf Railway, L.P. (SGLR) has filed a verified notice of
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to
abandon a 1.71-mile segment of its line of railroad known as the Venice
Branch, between milepost SW 890.29 and milepost SW 892.00 outside of
the City of Sarasota, in Sarasota County, Fla. (the Line).\1\ SGLR will
also be abandoning a connecting industrial spur. The Line traverses
[[Page 51468]]
United States Postal Service Zip Codes 34233 and 34238.
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\1\ This Line connects to a former line of railroad for which
SGLR received abandonment authority in 2004, subject to
environmental, public use, trail use, and standard employee
protective conditions. See Seminole Gulf Ry.--Aban. Exemption--in
Sarasota Cty., Fla., AB 400 (Sub-No. 3X) (STB served Apr. 2, 2004.)
That line was subsequently transferred to Sarasota County for
interim trail use and rail banking and developed into a trail.
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SGLR has certified that: (1) No local or overhead traffic has moved
over the Line for more than 10 years; (2) because the Line is not a
through route, there is no overhead traffic on the Line; (3) no formal
complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or by a state or
local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding
cessation of service over the Line either is pending with the Surface
Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S. District Court or has
been decided in favor of complainant within the two-year period; and
(4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c) (environmental report), 49 CFR
1105.11 (transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication),
and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been
met.
As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected
by the abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line
Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in
Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address
whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, a
petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed.
Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of
financial assistance (OFA) has been received, this exemption will be
effective on December 6, 2017, unless stayed pending reconsideration.
Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,\2\ formal
expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),\3\ and
interim trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be
filed by November 16, 2017. Petitions to reopen or requests for public
use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by November 24, 2017,
with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC
20423-0001.
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\2\ The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on
environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's
Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent
investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date.
See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any
request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the
Board may take appropriate action before the exemption's effective
date.
\3\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is
currently set at $1,800. See Regulations Governing Fees for Servs.
Performed in Connection with Licensing & Related Servs.--2017
Update, EP 542 (Sub-No. 25), slip op. App. C at 20 (STB served July
28, 2017).
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A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to Eric
M. Hocky, Clark Hill, PLC, One Commerce Square, 2005 Market Street,
Suite 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
If the verified notice contains false or misleading information,
the exemption is void ab initio.
SGLR has filed a combined environmental and historic report that
addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment
and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA)
by November 9, 2017. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by
writing to OEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC
20423-0001) or by calling OEA at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the
hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay
Service at (800) 877-8339. Comments on environmental and historic
preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA becomes
available to the public.
Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail
banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent
decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), SGLR shall file
a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has
exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If
consummation has not been effected by SGLR's filing of a notice of
consummation by November 6, 2018, and there are no legal or regulatory
barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically
expire.
Board decisions and notices are available on our Web site at
WWW.STB.GOV.
Decided: October 30, 2017.
By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of
Proceedings.
Tammy Lowery,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2017-23963 Filed 11-3-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P