[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51467-51468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23963]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 400 (Sub-No. 6X)]


Seminole Gulf Railway, L.P.--Abandonment Exemption--in Sarasota 
County, Fla.

    Seminole Gulf Railway, L.P. (SGLR) has filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to 
abandon a 1.71-mile segment of its line of railroad known as the Venice 
Branch, between milepost SW 890.29 and milepost SW 892.00 outside of 
the City of Sarasota, in Sarasota County, Fla. (the Line).\1\ SGLR will 
also be abandoning a connecting industrial spur. The Line traverses

[[Page 51468]]

United States Postal Service Zip Codes 34233 and 34238.
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    \1\ This Line connects to a former line of railroad for which 
SGLR received abandonment authority in 2004, subject to 
environmental, public use, trail use, and standard employee 
protective conditions. See Seminole Gulf Ry.--Aban. Exemption--in 
Sarasota Cty., Fla., AB 400 (Sub-No. 3X) (STB served Apr. 2, 2004.) 
That line was subsequently transferred to Sarasota County for 
interim trail use and rail banking and developed into a trail.
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    SGLR has certified that: (1) No local or overhead traffic has moved 
over the Line for more than 10 years; (2) because the Line is not a 
through route, there is no overhead traffic on the Line; (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 this exemption, 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 assistance (OFA) has been received, this exemption will be 
effective on December 6, 2017, unless stayed pending reconsideration. 
Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,\2\ formal 
expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),\3\ and 
interim trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be 
filed by November 16, 2017. Petitions to reopen or requests for public 
use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by November 24, 2017, 
with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, DC 
20423-0001.
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    \2\ 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 exemption's 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 exemption's effective 
date.
    \3\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which is 
currently set at $1,800. See Regulations Governing Fees for Servs. 
Performed in Connection with Licensing & Related Servs.--2017 
Update, EP 542 (Sub-No. 25), slip op. App. C at 20 (STB served July 
28, 2017).
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    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to Eric 
M. Hocky, Clark Hill, PLC, One Commerce Square, 2005 Market Street, 
Suite 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    SGLR has filed a combined environmental and historic report that 
addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment 
and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) 
by November 9, 2017. 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 at (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), SGLR 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 SGLR's filing of a notice of 
consummation by November 6, 2018, 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 
WWW.STB.GOV.

    Decided: October 30, 2017.

    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Tammy Lowery,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2017-23963 Filed 11-3-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P