[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 119 (Thursday, June 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34990-34991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13639]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB-409 (Sub-No. 5X)]


Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority--
Abandonment Exemption--in Los Angeles County, CA

    Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) 
has filed a notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart F--Exemption 
Abandonments to abandon a 0.31-mile line of railroad (the Line), a 
portion of the Santa Monica Industrial Lead,\1\ between milepost 485.69 
and milepost 486.00 in Los Angeles County, CA. The line traverses 
United States Postal Service Zip Code 90011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\The Santa Monica Industrial Lead is the subject of a notice 
of exemption in Union Pacific Railroad Company--Abandonment and 
Discontinuance of Trackage Rights Exemption--in Los Angeles County, 
CA, STB Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-No. 265X) that was served and 
published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2008. The exemption 
became effective on May 8, 2008. In a decision served May 7, 2008, 
the Board rejected a notice of intent by James Riffin to file an 
offer of financial assistance (OFA) to purchase the Santa Monica 
Industrial Lead. On May 28, 2008, Riffin filed a petition to revoke 
Union Pacific Railroad Company's (UP) exemption, to which UP replied 
on June 2, 2008. Those filings will be addressed in a subsequent 
Board decision. In this notice, LACMTA is seeking to abandon its 
residual common carrier obligation for the Line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    LACMTA has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the 
line for at least 2 years; (2) any overhead traffic can be rerouted 
over other lines; (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 or with any 
U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within 
the 2-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7 
(environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.8 (historic 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 R. Co.--
Abandonment-Goshen, 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 July 18, 2008, unless stayed pending reconsideration. 
LACMTA has simultaneously filed in this proceeding a petition for 
exemption from the OFA provisions at 49 U.S.C. 10904 and the public use 
provisions at 49 U.S.C. 10905. That matter will be resolved in a 
subsequent decision.
    The OFA process is designed for the purpose of providing continued 
rail service. The Board need not require the sale of a line under the 
OFA provisions if it determines that the offeror is not genuinely 
interested in providing rail service or that there is no likelihood of 
future traffic.\2\ Here, where the abandoning carrier seeks an 
exemption from the provisions of section 10904, where there has been no 
service on the line for at least 2 years, and where the property is 
proposed to be used for a public purpose, any person who wishes to 
oppose the request for an exemption from the OFA provisions or who 
intends to file an OFA should address one or more of the following: 
whether there is a demonstrable commercial need for rail service, as 
manifested by support from shippers or receivers on the line being 
abandoned or as manifested by other evidence of immediate and 
significant commercial need; whether there is community support for 
continued rail service; whether acquisition of freight operating rights 
would interfere with current and planned transit services; and whether 
continued rail service is operationally feasible, especially where, as 
here, the line to be abandoned is physically constrained.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\See, e.g., Union Pacific Railroad Company--Abandonment and 
Discontinuance of Trackage Rights Exemption--in Los Angeles County, 
CA, STB Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-No. 265X) (STB served May 7, 2008); 
Roaring Fork Railroad Holding Authority--Abandonment Exemption--in 
Garfield, Eagle, and Pitkin Counties, CO, STB Docket No. AB-547X 
(STB served May 21, 1999), aff'd sub nom. Kulmer v. STB, 236 F.3d 
1255, 1256-58 (10th Cir. 2001); The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe 
Railway Company-Abandonment Exemption-in King County, WA, STB Docket 
No. AB-6 (Sub-No. 380X) (STB served Aug. 5, 1998).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The petition for exemption from the OFA process was filed on May 
29, 2008. To permit persons to take these factors into consideration in 
filing a reply to the

[[Page 34991]]

petition for exemption, replies to that petition for exemption will be 
accepted until June 25, 2008.
    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 30, 2008. Petitions to reopen or requests 
for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by July 8, 
2008, with: Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20423-0001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on 
environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's 
Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) in its independent 
investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. 
See Exemption of Out-of-Service 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.
    \4\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which 
currently is set at $1,300. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to 
LACMTA's representative: Charles Spitulnik, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, 
NW., Suite 905, Washington, DC 20036.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    LACMTA has filed a combined environmental and historic report. SEA 
will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by June 23, 2008. 
Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to SEA (Room 
1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or by 
calling SEA, 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 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), LACMTA 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 LACMTA's filing of a notice of 
consummation by June 18, 2009, 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 http://www.stb.dot.gov.

    Decided: June 12, 2008.

    By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Anne K. Quinlan,
Acting Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E8-13639 Filed 6-18-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P