[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 73 (Friday, April 14, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 20264]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9243]


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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 final supplemental environmental 
assessment.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dana White, (202) 565-1552 (TDD for 
the hearing impaired 1-800-877-8339). To obtain a copy of the Final 
Supplemental EA, contact Da-To-Da Office Solutions, 1925 K Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20006, phone (202) 466-5530 or visit the Board's website 
at ``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Final 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), of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability 
(CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9261(e)(1), relieves UP of the requirement to 
obtain Board approval to remove track within the BHSS if it is done 
in connection with remediation actions carried out in compliance 
with CERCLA. Pursuant to Section 121(e) of CERCLA, UP removed track 
within the BHSS in connection with remediation actions carried out 
in compliance with CERCLA. UP has not, by undertaking such 
remediation, or by any other action, abandoned any portion of the 
Wallace Branch including the portion within the BHSS.
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    To meet its obligations under NEPA, SEA completed an independent 
review of the material submitted by UP and on January 7, 2000 issued a 
Draft Supplemental EA for public review and comment. The Draft 
Supplemental EA addressed environmental information and evaluated (1) 
Whether the six environmental conditions previously imposed by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) \2\ were met and (2) whether the 
environmental concerns regarding salvage activity raised during the 
course of the environmental review process had now been appropriately 
addressed and resolved. The document also contained 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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    SEA received nine comments on the Draft Supplemental EA, including 
generally favorable comments urging that the Board grant UP final 
salvage authority submitted by EPA, the State of Idaho, the Coeur 
d'Alene Tribe, through whose reservation the line passes, and UP. The 
Final Supplemental EA presents the agency and public comments that SEA 
received on the Draft Supplemental EA and SEA's response to those 
comments. It summarizes the environmental review that has taken place 
in this case and recommends final environmental mitigation measures for 
the Board to impose if it decides to approve salvage of the line. The 
Final Supplemental EA fully adopts and incorporates the analysis and 
conclusions in the Draft Supplemental EA, subject to certain factual 
and technical changes made as a result of the comments, and a modified 
historic preservation condition.
    In the Final Supplemental EA, SEA concludes that the material 
provided by UP was 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 has recommended is imposed and implemented by 
UP, UP's proposal to salvage the Wallace Branch would not have 
significant adverse environmental impacts. Therefore, the preparation 
of an environmental impact statement is not warranted.
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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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    The Board will consider the entire environmental record, the Draft 
Supplemental EA, the Final Supplemental EA, and all public comments 
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. 00-9243 Filed 4-13-00; 8:45 am]
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