[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26139-26140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12044]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. AB 6 (Sub-No. 496X); Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 400X)]
BNSF Railway Company--Abandonment Exemption--in the City of Des
Moines, Polk County, Iowa; Norfolk Southern Railway Company--
Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in the City of Des Moines, Polk
County, Iowa
BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), and Norfolk Southern Railway Company
(NSR) (collectively, Applicants), have jointly filed a verified notice
of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments and
Discontinuances of Service for BNSF to abandon, and for NSR to
discontinue service over, approximately 0.45 miles of rail line between
milepost 67.38 and milepost 66.93 in the City of Des Moines, Polk
County, Iowa (the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal
Service Zip Code 50309.
Applicants have certified that: (1) No local rail traffic has moved
over the Line for at least two years; (2) no overhead rail traffic has
moved over the Line for at least two years; (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 these exemptions, 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
[[Page 26140]]
assistance (OFA) \1\ has been received, these exemptions will be
effective on July 5, 2018,\2\ unless stayed pending reconsideration.
Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,\3\ formal
expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),\4\ and
trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by
June 15, 2018. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use
conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by June 25, 2018, with
the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC
20423-0001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Board modified its OFA procedures effective July 29,
2017. Among other things, the OFA process now requires potential
offerors, in their formal expression of intent, to make a
preliminary financial responsibility showing based on a calculation
using information contained in the carrier's filing and publicly
available information. See Offers of Financial Assistance, EP 729
(STB served June 29, 2017); 82 FR 30,997 (July 5, 2017).
\2\ Applicants initially filed their verified notice of
exemption on April 30, 2018. BNSF filed a supplemental certificate
of service for the environmental and historic report on May 16,
2018. Therefore, the official filing date is May 16, 2018.
\3\ 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 exemptions' 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 exemptions' effective
date.
\4\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is
currently set at $1,800. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to Karl
Morell, Karl Morell & Associates, 440 1st Street NW, Suite 440,
Washington, DC 20001 and Crystal M. Zorbaugh, Baker & Miller PLLC, 2401
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037.
If the verified notice contains false or misleading information,
the exemptions are void ab initio.
Applicants have filed a combined environmental and historic report
that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the
environment and historic resources. OEA issued an environmental
assessment (EA) on May 25, 2018. 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 (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. Comments on
environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed by June
11, 2018.
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), BNSF 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 BNSF's filing of a notice of
consummation by June 5, 2019, 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 website at
WWW.STB.GOV.
Decided: May 31, 2018.
By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of
Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2018-12044 Filed 6-4-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P