[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 77 (Friday, April 23, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21780-21781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08492]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 1)]


Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway 
Company

    By petition filed on February 26, 2021, Grainbelt Corporation 
(GNBC) requests that the Board partially revoke the trackage rights 
exemption granted to it under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) in Docket No. FD 
36486, as necessary to permit that trackage rights arrangement to 
expire twelve months from the effective date of the exemption. GNBC 
filed its verified notice of exemption in Docket No. FD 36486 on 
February 26, 2021, and simultaneously filed its petition for partial 
revocation in this docket. Notice of the exemption was served and 
published in the Federal Register (86 FR 14,176) on March 12, 2021, and 
the exemption became effective on March 28, 2021.
    As explained by GNBC in its verified notice of exemption in Docket 
No. 36486, GNBC and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) have entered into an 
amendment to their existing trackage rights agreement covering trackage 
between approximately milepost 668.73 in Long, Okla., and approximately 
milepost 723.30 in Quanah, Tex. (the Line), allowing GNBC to (1) use 
the Line to access the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) 
facility near BNSF Chickasha Subdivision milepost 688.6 at Altus, 
Okla., and (2) to operate additional trains on the Line to accommodate 
the movement of trains transporting BNSF customers' railcars (loaded or 
empty) located along the Line, to unit train facilities on the Line.\1\ 
GNBC Verified Notice of Exemption 1-3, Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. 
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 36486.
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    \1\ GNBC states that it already holds overhead trackage rights 
granted by BNSF's predecessor between Snyder Yard at milepost 664.00 
and Quanah at milepost 723.30, allowing GNBC to interchange at 
Quanah with BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad Company. GNBC Verified 
Notice of Exemption 2, Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--
BNSF Ry., FD 36486. According to GNBC, these original trackage 
rights were supplemented in 2009 to allow GNBC to operate between 
Snyder, Okla., and Altus, with the right to perform limited local 
service at Long, Okla. Id. (citing Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. 
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 35332 (STB served Dec. 17, 2009)). GNBC 
states that the trackage rights were further amended in 2013 to 
allow GNBC to provide local service to a grain shuttle facility in 
Headrick, Okla., and again in 2014 to allow GNBC to provide local 
service to a grain shuttle facility in Eldorado, Okla. Id. (citing 
Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 35719 (STB 
served Mar. 15, 2013), and Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. 
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 35831 (STB served June 12, 2014)).
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    GNBC explains that the trackage rights covered by the verified 
notice in Docket No. FD 36486 are local rather than overhead rights and 
therefore they do not qualify for the Board's class exemption for 
temporary trackage rights under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(8). (GNBC Pet. 4.) 
GNBC therefore filed its verified notice of exemption under the Board's 
class exemption procedures at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) and, in this sub-
docket, filed a petition for partial revocation of the exemption as 
necessary to permit the amendment to the trackage rights to expire 
twelve months from the effective date, on March 28, 2022,\2\ pursuant 
to the parties' agreement.\3\ (Id. at 3.) GNBC argues that the 
requested relief will promote the rail transportation policy and is 
limited in scope. (Id. at 4-6.) GNBC also asserts that the Board has 
routinely granted similar petitions to allow trackage rights to expire 
on a negotiated date. (Id. at 4-5.)
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    \2\ On March 5, 2021, GNBC filed a supplement to clarify that 
the ``effective date'' referred to in the petition is the effective 
date of the exemption, which it identifies as March 29, 2021. (GNBC 
Suppl. 1.) However, the effective date of the exemption was March 
28, 2021 (30 days from the filing of the verified notice); 
accordingly, the Board will interpret the petition as seeking to 
allow the trackage rights to expire on March 28, 2022.
    \3\ GNBC states that the expiration of the trackage rights 
amendment sought here will not affect the termination date of the 
underlying trackage rights as supplemented and amended. (GNBC Pet. 
3.)
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    On March 4, 2021, GNBC filed in Docket Nos. FD 36486 and FD 36486 
(Sub-No. 1) letters of support from PCCA and Cargill Cotton asking that 
the Board promptly grant GNBC's requests in both dockets.

Discussion and Conclusions

    Although GNBC and BNSF have expressly agreed on the duration of the 
proposed trackage rights, trackage rights approved under the class 
exemption at Sec.  1180.2(d)(7) typically remain effective 
indefinitely, regardless of any contract provisions. At times, however, 
the Board has partially revoked a trackage rights exemption to allow 
those rights to expire after a limited time rather than lasting in 
perpetuity. See, e.g., BNSF Ry.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--Union Pac. 
R.R., FD 36377 (Sub-No. 3) (STB served Feb. 23, 2021); BNSF Ry.--
Trackage Rts. Exemption--Union Pac. R.R., FD 36377 (Sub-No. 1) (STB 
served Mar. 11, 2020); New Orleans Pub. Belt R.R.--Trackage Rts. 
Exemption --Ill. Cent. R.R., FD 36198 (Sub-No. 1) (STB served June 20, 
2018).
    Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the Board may exempt a person, class of 
persons, or a transaction or service, in whole or in part, when the 
Board finds that: (1) Continued regulation is not necessary to carry 
out the rail transportation policy of 49 U.S.C. 10101; and (2) either 
the transaction or service is of limited scope, or regulation is not 
necessary to protect shippers from the abuse of market power.
    Granting partial revocation in these circumstances to permit the 
trackage rights to expire twelve months after the exemption's effective 
date would eliminate the need for GNBC to file a second pleading 
seeking discontinuance when the agreement expires, thereby promoting 
the rail transportation policy at 49 U.S.C. 10101(2), (7), and (15). 
Moreover, partially revoking the exemption to limit the term of the 
trackage rights is consistent with the limited scope of the transaction 
previously exempted.\4\ Therefore, the Board will grant the petition 
and permit the trackage rights exempted in Docket No. FD 36486 to 
expire twelve months after the effective date of the exemption, on 
March 28, 2022.
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    \4\ Because the proposed transaction is of limited scope, the 
Board need not make a market power finding. See 49 U.S.C. 10502(a).
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    To provide the statutorily mandated protection to any employee 
adversely affected by the discontinuance of trackage rights, the Board 
will impose the employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon 
Short Line Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & 
Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).
    This action is categorically excluded from environmental review 
under 49 CFR 1105.6(c).
    It is ordered:
    1. The petition for partial revocation of the trackage rights class 
exemption is granted.
    2. As discussed above, the trackage rights in Docket No. FD 36486 
are permitted to expire on March 28, 2022, subject to the employee 
protective conditions set forth in Oregon Short Line.

[[Page 21781]]

    3. Notice of this decision will be published in the Federal 
Register.
    4. This decision is effective on May 20, 2021. Petitions to stay 
must be filed by April 30, 2021. Petitions for reconsideration must be 
filed by May 10, 2021.

    Decided: April 19, 2021.

    By the Board, Board Members Begeman, Fuchs, Oberman, Primus, and 
Schultz.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2021-08492 Filed 4-22-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P