[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13581-13582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06262]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 33 (Sub-No. 332X)]


Union Pacific Railroad Company--Abandonment Exemption--in Harris 
County, Tex.

    Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has filed a verified notice of 
exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to 
abandon 0.9 miles of the Seabrook Industrial Lead between milepost 6.9 
(former Southern Pacific Transportation Co. (SP) milepost 29.1), near 
Red Bluff Road, and milepost 7.8 (former SP milepost 30.0), near 
Repsdorph Road, in Seabrook, Harris County, Tex. (the Line). The Line 
is wholly contained within United States Postal Service Zip Code 77586.
    UP has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line 
for at least two years; (2) no overhead traffic has moved over the Line 
for at least two years and, therefore, there is no need to reroute any 
traffic; (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) \1\ has been received,

[[Page 13582]]

this exemption will become effective on April 27, 2018, 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 April 9, 2018. Petitions 
to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 
must be filed by April 17, 2018, with the Surface Transportation Board, 
395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001.
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    \1\ The Board modified its OFA procedures effective July 29, 
2017. Among other things, the OFA process now requires potential 
offerors, in their formal expression of intent, to make a 
preliminary financial responsibility showing based on a calculation 
using information contained in the carrier's filing and publicly 
available information. See Offers of Financial Assistance, EP 729 
(STB served June 29, 2017); 82 FR 30,997 (July 5, 2017).
    \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 UP's 
representative: Jeremy M. Berman, 1400 Douglas St., #1580, Omaha, NE 
68179.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    UP 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 April 3, 2018. 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 interim trail 
use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a 
subsequent decision.
    Pursuant to 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), UP 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 UP's filing of a notice of consummation by March 29, 
2019, 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 website at 
``WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.''

    Decided: March 23, 2018.

    By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2018-06262 Filed 3-28-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P