[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 5 (Friday, January 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1226-1227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-418]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board
[Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-No. 70)]


Union Pacific Railroad Company--Abandonment--Wallace Branch, ID

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Draft Supplemental Environmental 
Assessment and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board's (Board's) Section of 
Environmental Analysis (SEA) has prepared, and now asks for public 
review and comment on, a Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment 
(Draft Supplemental EA) to complete the environmental review process 
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for this rail 
abandonment proceeding.

DATES: Written comments on the Draft Supplemental EA are due February 
22, 2000 (45 days).

ADDRESSES: Send an original and 10 copies to Vernon A. Williams, Office 
of the Secretary, Room 711, Surface Transportation Board, 1925 K 
Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20423-0001, to the attention of Phillis 
Johnson-Ball. Please refer to Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-

[[Page 1227]]

No. 70) in all correspondence addressed to the Board.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Phillis Johnson-Ball, (202) 565-1530 
(TDD for the hearing impaired (202) 565-1695). Additional information 
is contained in the Draft Supplemental EA. To obtain a copy of the 
Draft Supplemental EA, contact D.C. News & Data, 1925 K Street, NW, 
Washington, D.C. 20423, phone (202) 289-4357 or visit the Board's 
website at ``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Draft Supplemental EA addresses the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company's (UP's) filings with the Board on June 
18, 1999 and October 19, 1999, of environmental information required to 
complete the environmental review process in this rail abandonment 
proceeding in accordance with the Court's decision in State of Idaho v. 
ICC, 35 F.3d 585 (D.C. Cir. 1994). UP now seeks final approval to 
salvage (i.e., remove the tracks, ties, and roadbed) the rail lines 
known as the Wallace-Mullan Branches (Wallace Branch) in Benewah, 
Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Idaho outside of the Bunker Hill 
Superfund Site (BHSS).1
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    \1\ The 71.5-mile line extends from milepost 16.5 near Plummer, 
to milepost 80.4, near Wallace, and then to milepost 7.6, near 
Mullan, in Benewah, Kootenai, and Shoshone Counties, Idaho. The line 
traverses the U.S. Postal Service zip codes 83851, 83861, 83833, 
83810, 83839, 83837, 83846, and 83846. The Wallace Branch no longer 
has stations because rail service has already been discontinued. The 
7.9-mile section of right-of-way within the BHSS was addressed in 
the BHSS Record of Decision (EPA 1992) and is not part of the 
salvage proposal before the Board. Section 121(e)(1), 42 U.S.C. 
9261(e)(1), relieves railroads of the requirement to obtain Board 
approval to abandon the portions of rail lines within Superfund 
sites if they do so in connection with remediation actions carried 
out in compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation and Liability Act.
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    To meet its obligations under NEPA, SEA has completed its 
independent review of the material submitted by UP and has prepared 
this Draft Supplemental EA to address UP's environmental information 
and evaluate (1) whether the six environmental conditions previously 
imposed by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) 2 are 
met and (2) whether the environmental concerns regarding salvage 
activity raised during the course of the environmental review process 
have now been appropriately addressed and resolved. The document also 
contains SEA's preliminary recommendations for mitigating the potential 
environmental impacts from salvage activity that have been identified.
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    \2\  The ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA), which was enacted 
on December 29, 1995, and took effect on January 1, 1996, abolished 
the ICC and established the Board to assume some regulatory 
functions involving rail transportation matters that the ICC had 
administered, including the functions involving the abandonment of 
rail service at issue here. The ICC's six environmental conditions 
required consultation and possible permitting and review by 
appropriate agencies with specialized expertise prior to any salvage 
activity on this line.
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    Based on SEA's independent evaluation of all the available 
information, SEA preliminarily concludes that the material provided by 
UP is sufficient to satisfy five of the six environmental conditions 
imposed by the ICC to ensure that, prior to salvage of the line, the 
potential significance of environmental effects related to the proposed 
track salvage will have been properly evaluated.3 
Furthermore, SEA concludes, based on the available information and the 
input of other agencies and government entities with specialized 
expertise, that if UP complies with the mitigation in the Engineering 
Evaluation/Cost Analysis and the Track Salvage Work Plan that were 
issued and approved by EPA, and the Biological Assessment prepared by 
UP and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and if the 
additional mitigation SEA recommends in this Draft Supplemental EA is 
imposed and implemented by UP, UP's proposal to salvage the Wallace 
Branch would not have significant adverse environmental impacts.
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    \3\ The only condition that has not yet been satisfied is the 
ICC's Environmental Condition No. 6, involving historic 
preservation. SEA recommends that the Board impose a modified 
historic preservation condition on any decision approving salvage to 
ensure completion of the historic review process.
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    SEA encourages the general public and interested agencies, 
government entities, and parties to participate in the environmental 
review of UP's salvage proposal by commenting on this Draft 
Supplemental EA during the 45-day comment period which ends February 
22, 2000. SEA seeks public input on all aspects of this Draft 
Supplemental EA, as well as on the Board's environmental review 
process, so that SEA can assess public concerns and issues related to 
the UP proposal and determine whether additional environmental analysis 
and mitigation are necessary to analyze and effectively mitigate the 
potential environmental impacts that could occur as a result of track 
salvage activity on this line.
    SEA will fully consider all comments that it receives in preparing 
final environmental recommendations to the Board, which will be based 
on further documentation and analysis, if any is needed. The Board then 
will consider the entire environmental record, the Draft Supplemental 
EA, all public comments, and SEA's Post EA recommendations, including 
SEA's final recommended environmental mitigation before issuing a 
decision either granting or denying UP final authority to salvage the 
portion of the Wallace Branch outside of the BHSS. In that decision, if 
UP's proposal is approved, the Board will impose any environmental 
conditions it deems appropriate.

    By the Board, Elaine K. Kaiser, Chief, Section of Environmental 
Analysis.
Vernon A. Williams.
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-418 Filed 1-6-00; 8:45 am]
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