[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 66 (Friday, April 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13738-13739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06748]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 1237 (Sub-No. 1X)]


New Hampshire Department of Transportation--Abandonment 
Exemption--Between Littleton, N.H., and Bethlehem, N.H.

    New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has filed a 
verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt

[[Page 13739]]

Abandonments to abandon 6.86 miles of rail line located between 
milepost C113, station 995+66, at Industrial Drive in Littleton, N.H., 
and milepost C119.86, station 1359+77, a point 3.35 miles east of the 
Littleton/Bethlehem, N.H., town line (the Line).\1\ The Line traverses 
U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 03561 and 03574.
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    \1\ NHDOT filed its verified notice of exemption on January 28, 
2019. The verified notice initially did not include a certification 
that NHDOT had complied with the notice requirements of 49 CFR 
1105.11 (environmental report). See 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(2). On March 
11, 2019, NHDOT supplemented its verified notice with a 
certification that it served its environmental report on the 
agencies identified in 49 CFR 1105.7(b) on February 26, 2019. 
Accordingly, NHDOT's verified notice is considered to have been 
filed on March 18, 2019, 20 days after NHDOT served its 
environmental report on the required agencies.
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    NHDOT has certified that: (1) No rail traffic has moved over the 
Line for at least two years; (2) there is no overhead traffic on this 
Line; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of a 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 any U.S. District 
Court or has been decided in favor of a complainant within the two-year 
period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper 
publication), 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies), 
and 49 CFR 1105.7 and 1105.8 (environment and historic report), 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) \2\ has been received, this exemption will 
be effective on May 5, 2019, unless stayed pending reconsideration. 
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 
interim trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be 
filed by April 15, 2019. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use 
conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April 25, 2019, with 
the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 
20423-0001.
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    \2\ 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).
    \3\ 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.
    \4\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which 
currently is set at $1,800. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).
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    A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to 
NHDOT's representatives: Allison B. Greenstein, Assistant Attorney 
General, Transportation & Construction Bureau, 33 Capitol Street, 
Concord, NH 03301-6397; and Jack E. Dodd, Rail Business Consultant, 73 
Bishop Street, Saint Albans, VT 05478.
    If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, 
the exemption is void ab initio.
    NHDOT has filed a combined environmental and historic report that 
addresses the potential effects of the abandonment on the environment 
and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) 
by April 12, 2019. The EA will be available to interested persons on 
the Board's website, by writing to OEA, or by calling OEA at (202) 245-
0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the 
Federal 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), NHDOT 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 NHDOT's filing of a notice of 
consummation by April 5, 2020, and there are no legal or regulatory 
barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically 
expire.
    Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.

    Decided: April 2, 2019.

    By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Acting Director, Office of 
Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2019-06748 Filed 4-4-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P