[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 87 (Thursday, May 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 25773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10911]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Notice of Limitation on Claims Against Proposed Public 
Transportation Project

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Limitation on Claims.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the 
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the following project: Central 
Corridor Light Rail Transit Project, Metropolitan Council, Minneapolis, 
MN. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the 
environmental decisions by FTA on the subject project and to activate 
the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final 
environmental actions.

DATES: By this notice, FTA is advising the public of final agency 
actions subject to Section 139(l) of Title 23, United States Code 
(U.S.C.). A claim seeking judicial review of the FTA actions announced 
herein for the listed public transportation project will be barred 
unless the claim is filed on or before November 1, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Grasty, Environmental Protection 
Specialist, Office of Planning and Environment, 202-366-9139, or 
Christopher Van Wyk, Attorney-Advisor, Office of Chief Counsel, 202-
366-1733. FTA is located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 
20590. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., EST, Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that FTA has taken 
final agency actions by issuing certain approvals for the public 
transportation project listed below. The actions on this project, as 
well as the laws under which such actions were taken, are described in 
the documentation issued in connection with the project to comply with 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in other documents in 
the FTA administrative record for the project. Interested parties may 
contact either the project sponsor or the relevant FTA Regional Office 
for more information on the project. Contact information for FTA's 
Regional Offices may be found at http://www.fta.dot.gov.
    This notice applies to all FTA decisions on the listed project as 
of the issuance date of this notice and all laws under which such 
actions were taken, including, but not limited to, NEPA [42 U.S.C. 
4321-4375], Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 
1966 [49 U.S.C. 303], Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act [16 U.S.C. 470f], and the Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q]. 
This notice does not, however, alter or extend the limitation period of 
180 days for challenges of project decisions subject to previous 
notices published in the Federal Register. The project and actions that 
are the subject of this notice are:
    Project name and location: Central Corridor Light Rail Transit 
Project, City of Minneapolis, MN (Hennepin County) and City of St. 
Paul, MN (Ramsey County). Project sponsor: Metropolitan Council. 
Project description: The Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (LRT) 
Project (Project) is 10.9 miles long (9.7 miles of new alignment, 1.2 
miles on shared alignment) and consists of 23 Central Corridor LRT 
stations--18 new stations and five shared with the Hiawatha LRT. The 
Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) and Section 4(f) Evaluation was published in June 
2009. A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued by the Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA) in August 2009.
    Following the June 2009 FEIS and the August 2009 ROD, a lawsuit was 
filed against the U.S Department of Transportation (USDOT), the FTA and 
the Metropolitan Council by a coalition of local businesses, residents 
and non-profit organizations. One of the four claims made in the 
lawsuit was that the environmental review of the Project violated NEPA 
by failing to adequately analyze potential loss of business revenues 
caused during construction of the Project. The Court held that the FEIS 
prepared in June 2009, had failed to evaluate potential impacts on the 
loss of business revenue during construction and that it should have 
been evaluated during the NEPA process. The Court ordered the FTA and 
Metropolitan Council to supplement the FEIS on this issue and to 
consider any loss of business revenues as an adverse impact of the 
construction of the Central Corridor LRT. The results of this analysis, 
as required by the January 26, 2011, Court order, are documented in the 
Construction-Related Potential Impacts on Business Revenues 
Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA) issued April 20, 2011. This 
notice applies to only the Finding of No Significant Impact issued on 
April 20, 2011. This notice does not alter or extend the prior 
Limitation on Claims notice issued for the Record of Decision issued 
for the Project in August 2009. Final agency actions: Finding of No 
Significant Impact issued April 20, 2011.
    Supporting documentation: Final Environmental Impact Statement 
dated June 2009 and ROD dated August 18, 2009.

    Issued on: April 29, 2011.
Elizabeth S. Riklin,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning and Environment.
[FR Doc. 2011-10911 Filed 5-4-11; 8:45 am]
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