4570 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 19 / Friday, January 28, 2000 / Notices

1The Board will grant a stay if an informed

decision on environmental issues (whether raised

by a party or by the Board’s Section of

Environmental Analysis in its independent

investigation) cannot be made before the

exemption’s effective date. See Exemption of Outof-Service 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.

2Each offer of financial assistance must be

accompanied by the filing fee, which currently is

set at $1000. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

The public hearing that will be held

beginning on March 8, 2000, will allow

all interested persons, including

railroads, rail shippers and other users,

rail employees, and other elements of

the rail sector, to voice their views on

rail consolidation in general, and on the

present and future structure of the North

American railroad industry, and will

give us a better sense of the current

thinking of those most directly affected

by our regulation. The hearing is

scheduled for that date both because the

letter from Chairman Shuster and

Ranking Democratic Member Oberstar

has urged prompt action on our part and

because the application in the BNSF/CN

control proceeding could conceivably be

filed as early as March 20, 2000.

It should be emphasized that the

comments made at this hearing will not

be regarded as ‘‘evidence’’ in the BNSF/

CN control proceeding. That

application, if and when it is filed, will

be judged on its merits, on the basis of

the record compiled in STB Finance

Docket No. 33842, in accordance with

the evidentiary directives already issued

by the Board in its decision notifying

the public of the future BNSF/CN filing,

and subject to any other future rulings

of the Board regarding that filing.

Date(s) Of Hearing. The hearing will

begin on Wednesday, March 8, 2000, at

10:00 a.m., in the 7th floor hearing room

at the Board’s headquarters in

Washington, DC, and will be conducted

as other Board hearings have been

conducted in recent years: there will be

only short breaks during the hearing; the

hearing can be expected to continue into

the evening hours; and, if necessary, the

hearing will resume on Thursday,

March 9, 2000, and continue until every

person scheduled to speak has been

heard.

Notice Of Intent To Participate. Any

person wishing to speak at the hearing

must file with the Board a written notice

of intent to participate, and must

indicate therein a requested time

allotment, by February 8, 2000.

Schedule. A schedule for the hearing,

which will include a list of speakers and

their allotted times, will be issued by

the Board by February 18, 2000.

Statement and/or Summary. Each

speaker or commenter must file with the

Board the text of his/her anticipated

written statement, and/or a summary

thereof, by February 29, 2000.

Paper Copies; Electronic Copies. Each

person intending to speak at the hearing

should submit an original and 10 paper

copies of his/her notice of intent to

participate (these must be submitted by

February 8, 2000). Each person

intending to speak or to submit written

comments must submit his/her written

comments and/or a written summary

thereof (these must be submitted by

February 29, 2000). Each such person

should also submit, in addition to an

original and 10 copies of all paper

documents filed with the Board, an

electronic copy of each such paper

document. The electronic copy should

be on a 3.5-inch IBM-compatible floppy

diskette, and should be in, or

convertible by and into, WordPerfect

7.0. Any person may seek a waiver from

the electronic submission requirement.

Coordination Encouraged. We

encourage interested persons to

coordinate the presentation of their

views by selecting a single individual to

appear at the hearing on behalf of their

common interests. Because of the

importance of shipper views on the

subject matter, however, we encourage

individual shippers to appear and

express their positions.

Post-Hearing Action. We will take

such action, if any, as necessary to

respond in an appropriate fashion to the

views expressed at the hearing.

Federal Register Publication. Notice of

the March 8, 2000 hearing will be

published in the Federal Register.

Board Releases Available Via The

Internet. Decisions and notices of the

Board, including this notice, are

available on the Board’s website at

‘‘www.stb.dot.gov.’’

This action will not significantly

affect either the quality of the human

environment or the conservation of

energy resources.

Decided: January 21, 2000.

By the Board, Chairman Morgan, Vice

Chairman Burkes, and Commissioner

Clyburn.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–1999 Filed 1–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB–33 (Sub–No. 146X)]

Union Pacific Railroad Company—

Abandonment and Discontinuance of

Trackage Rights Exemption—in Dallas

County, TX

Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP)

has filed a notice of exemption under 49

CFR 1152 Subpart F—Exempt

Abandonments and Discontinuances of

Service and Trackage Rights to abandon

2,367 feet of railroad over the Oakland

Avenue Spur from station 186+62 at

Malcolm X Boulevard to the end of the

track at Station 210+29.2 in the city of

Dallas, Dallas County, TX. The line

traverses United States Postal Service

Zip Code 75215.

UP has certified that: (1) No local

traffic has moved over the line for at

least 2 years; (2) there is no overhead

traffic moving over 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 2-year period; and (4) the

requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7

(environmental reports), 49 CFR 1105.8

(historic reports), 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 and discontinuance shall

be protected under Oregon Short Line R.

Co.—Abandonment—Goshen, 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 February 23, 2000, unless

stayed pending reconsideration.

Petitions to stay that do not involve

environmental issues,1 formal

expressions of intent to file an OFA

under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),2 and trail

use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR

1152.29 must be filed by February 3,

2000. Petitions to reopen or requests for

public use conditions under 49 CFR

1152.28 must be filed by February 14,

2000, with: Surface Transportation

Board, Office of the Secretary, Case

Control Unit, 1925 K Street, N.W.,

Washington, DC 20423.

A copy of any petition filed with the

Board should be sent to applicant’s

representative: James P. Gatlin, General

Attorney, Union Pacific Railroad

Company, 1416 Dodge Street, Room

830, Omaha, NE 68179.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 19 / Friday, January 28, 2000 / Notices 4571

If the verified notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio.

UP has filed an environmental report

which addresses the effects, if any, of

the abandonment and discontinuance

on the environment and historic

resources. The Section of Environmental

Analysis (SEA) will issue an

environmental assessment (EA) by

January 28, 2000. Interested persons

may obtain a copy of the EA by writing

to SEA (Room 500, Surface

Transportation Board, Washington, DC

20423) or by calling SEA, at (202) 565–

1545. 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), UP shall file a notice of

consummation with the Board to signify

that it has exercised the authority

granted and fully abandoned its line. If

consummation has not been effected by

UP’s filing of a notice of consummation

by January 24, 2001, 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: January 13, 2000.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–1230 Filed 1–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P