[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 177 (Friday, September 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56285-56286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20081]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 167 (Sub-No. 1189X)]


Consolidated Rail Corporation--Abandonment Exemption--in Hudson 
County, N.J.

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental 
Assessment and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the availability of the Draft 
Supplemental Environmental Assessment.

DATES: The Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment will be 
available for public review and comment on September 10, 2020. Comments 
are due on October 19, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment 
should be submitted electronically on the STB's website: https://prod.stb.gov. Please refer to Docket No. AB 167 (Sub-No. 1189X) in all 
comments submitted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Assenza, 202-245-0301, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 10, 2020, the Surface 
Transportation Board's (Board) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) 
issued a Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment (DSEA) in the 
pending rail-line abandonment proceeding, Consolidated Rail 
Corporation-Abandonment Exemption-in Hudson County, N.J., Docket No. AB 
167 (Sub-No. 1189X), in which Conrail seeks authority to abandon the 
Harsimus Branch, a 1.36-mile rail line in Jersey City, N.J. Following 
the issuance of a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) in 2009, the 
Board stayed the abandonment proceeding for several years while the 
parties litigated jurisdictional issues in court. The DSEA updates and 
addresses changed circumstances and new information since the issuance 
of the Draft EA, responds to comments on the Draft EA, and provides 
further opportunity for public comment on environmental issues under 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

[[Page 56286]]

(historic issues are being considered in a separate process). Comments 
on the DSEA may be submitted electronically through the Board's website 
and are due on October 19, 2020.
    Following receipt of comments on this DSEA, OEA will prepare and 
issue a Final EA. The issuance of the Final EA will conclude the NEPA 
review process for this abandonment proceeding. Once OEA completes both 
the Section 106 process and the NEPA review, the Board will consider 
the recommendations from OEA concerning the effects of the proposed 
abandonment on the environment and historic resources, will balance 
that information with the transportation merits of the proceeding, and 
will issue a final decision approving, denying, or approving with the 
imposition of conditions a grant of abandonment authority to Conrail.

    Dated: September 8, 2020.

    By the Board, Victoria Ruston, Director, Office of Environmental 
Analysis.
Kenyatta Clay,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2020-20081 Filed 9-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P