37710 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 117 / Friday, June 16, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

1The Association of American Railroads (AAR)

recently advised the General Accounting Office that

70% of rail traffic moves under contract. Railroad

Regulation: Changes in Railroad Rates and Service

Quality Since 1990 (GAO/RCED–99–93, Apr. 1999),

p. 23.

2While most Class I railroads identify contract

movements in the Waybill Sample, some do not and

no non-Class I carriers identify contract movements.

As a result, the accuracy and representativeness of

the Waybill Sample suffers.

3 In accordance with the National Archives and

Records Administrations Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98–

497, 44 U.S.C. 101 note, the Waybill Sample was

appraised by the Archives and determined to be a

permanent record of the Board (Request to Transfer,

Approval, and Receipt of Records to National

Archives of the United States Job Number NN3–

134–094–001). Permanent records must be

transferred to the Archives under 44 U.S.C. 2107.

June 2, 2000. The full text of this

Commission decision is available for

inspection and copying during normal

business hours in the FCC’s Reference

Information Center (Room CY–A257),

445 Twelfth Street, SW., Washington,

DC. The complete text of this decision

may also be purchased from the

Commission’s copy contractor,

International Transcription Service,

Inc., 1231 20th Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20036, (202) 857–3800.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73

Radio broadcasting.

Part 73 of title 47 of the Code of

Federal Regulations is amended as

follows:

PART 73—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 73

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 334, 336.

§ 73.202 [Amended]

2. Section 73.202(b), the Table of FM

Allotments under Colorado, is amended

by adding Broomfield, Channel 223C1.

3. Section 73.202(b), the Table of FM

Allotments under Colorado, is amended

by removing Channel 223C1 at Greeley.

Federal Communications Commission.

John A. Karousos,

Chief, Allocations Branch, Policy and Rules

Division, Mass Media Bureau.

[FR Doc. 00–15262 Filed 6–15–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

49 CFR Part 1244

[STB Ex Parte No. 385 (Sub–No. 4)]

Modification of the Carload Waybill

Sample and Public Use File

Regulations

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Final rules.

SUMMARY: The existing regulations at 49

CFR Part 1244 are modified to require

all railroads to identify contract

movements in the annual carload

waybill sample and establish a 30-year

limit on the confidentiality of the

‘‘Waybill Sample.’’

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James Nash, (202) 565–1542 or H. Jeff

Warren, (202) 525–1533. [Assistance for

the hearing impaired is available

through TDD services (202) 565–1695.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Railroads

that annually terminate 4,500 or more

carloads (or 5 percent of the carloads in

any State) are required to report data,

including revenues, on individual

movements drawn from a sampling of

their traffic. This ‘‘Waybill Sample’’ is

used for a variety of purposes by the

Board, by parties appearing before the

agency, by other Federal and State

agencies, and by the public in general.

Because of the current widespread use

of confidential transportation contracts

in the railroad industry,1 we are revising

the Waybill Sample reporting

requirements to ensure that accurate

and representative data on contract

movements are reported.2 At the same

time, our rule will continue to protect

the confidentiality of the Waybill

Sample and keep the reporting burden

to a minimum.

In an Advance Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking (ANPR), served May 17,

1999 (64 FR 26723, May 17, 1999), we

solicited comments on modifications to

the existing regulations at 49 CFR Part

1244 to enhance the usefulness of the

Waybill Sample and to conform to

requirements of the National Archives

and Records Administration (Archives)

for storing historical records.3 We

specifically requested comments on

requiring all railroads to identify (flag)

those shipments in the Waybill Sample

that are governed by transportation

contracts and to report the actual

revenues for each contract shipment.

We suggested that we could protect

(mask) the confidently of the contract

revenues by reporting average revenue

figures in the Waybill Sample. We also

suggested a 20-year confidentiality

period to meet the requirements of the

Archives.

We received comments from the

Association of American Railroads

(AAR), the U.S. Department of

Transportation (DOT), the Western Coal

Traffic League (WCTL), David L. Hall

(Hall), and Escalation Consultants, Inc

(EC). After considering the parties’

comments, we issued a Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) served

January 5, 2000 (65 FR 732, January 6,

2000). In the NPR we dropped the

universally opposed suggestion to use

an averaging method to mask actual

contract revenues in the Waybill Sample

and instead proposed only to require

railroads to identify (flag) contract

movements. Under the proposed

regulations, railroads would be free to

continue to choose a masking method of

their own (so long as the masking

procedure is submitted to and approved

by the Board) or ask us to develop one

for them. We also raised the proposed

limit on the confidentiality of the

Waybill Sample from 20 years to 30

years.

We received comments on the NPR

from WCTL and NITL. AAR, DOT, Hall,

and EC, which had commented on the

ANPR, did not comment on the NPR.

Identification of Contract Shipments

Both WCTL and NITL support the

proposed contract reporting rule and

agree that it will provide more precise

information concerning the volume and

revenue of contract traffic while placing

little additional reporting burden on the

railroad industry. Because our proposal

to require railroads to flag contract rates

and mask the revenue associated with

contract traffic is unopposed, we will

adopt it without change.

WCTL also suggested that we should:

(1) Subject to appropriate protective

conditions, make the contract revenues

available to shipper and other parties in

rate and rulemaking cases; and (2)

impose a user fee for Board masking of

waybill sample revenues. Our longstanding policy is not to release actual

contract revenues reported in the

confidential waybill sample because of

the potential for commercial harm to

both the contracting railroad and

shipper. WCTL argues that such

commercially sensitive data may be

needed by shippers for use in Board

proceedings. However, WCTL provides

no compelling reason to make a change

to this general policy. We note that,

through the discovery process, shippers

have obtained information on some

contract rates in rate complaint

proceedings. We believe that it is best to

address the issue of access to contract

information on a case-by-case basis.

Indeed, we note that neither the ANPR

nor the NPR proposed such a change to

our general policy on access to contract

information and, therefore, it would be

inappropriate to address that issue in

this proceeding. For this same reason, it

would be inappropriate in this

proceeding to adopt a fee for masking a

railroad’s contract revenues. We will

consider adopting a fee for this function

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 117 / Friday, June 16, 2000 / Rules and Regulations 37711

after we have gained some experience

under the new rule.

Waybill Confidentiality Time Limit

WCTL supports the 30-year limit, but

NITL argues that 30 years is excessive.

NITL argues that there is no need to go

beyond our original proposal of 20 years

because the large majority of rail

contracts have terms of less than 20

years and because the competitive value

of rail contract rates negotiated 20 years

ago is negligible.

While recognizing that most

transportation contracts are for a term of

less than 20 years, we nevertheless must

exercise caution in sanctioning the

release of data that may contain

proprietary information. For that reason,

we will adopt the confidentiality period

of 30 years. We will also adopt the

unopposed proposal that the Waybill

Sample be sent to the Archives as we

maintain it—i.e., the contract flags will

be included, but the contract revenue

will remain masked.

The modifications to Title 49, part

1244 of the Code of Federal Regulations

are contained in this document.

This action will not significantly

affect either the quality of the human

environment or energy conservation.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), we

conclude that our action will not have

a significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities

within the meaning of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 11145.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 1244

Freight, Railroads, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

By the Board, Chairman Morgan, Vice

Chairman Burkes, and Commissioner

Clyburn.

Decided: June 12, 2000.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, Title 49, Part 1244 of the

Code of Federal Regulations is amended

as follows:

PART 1244—WAYBILL ANALYSIS OF

TRANSPORTATION OF PROPERTY—

RAILROADS

1. The authority citation for Part 1244

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 721, 10707, 11144,

11145.

2. Redesignate §§ 1244.3 through

1244.8 as §§ 1244.4 through 1244.9.

3. Add new § 1244.3 to read as

follows:

§ 1244.3 Reporting contract shipment

waybills.

(a) All railroads shall identify (flag)

contract shipment waybills.

(b) The revenue associated with

contract shipments may be encrypted

(masked) to safeguard the

confidentiality of the contract rates.

(1) Upon written request, the Board

will provide a masking procedure for a

railroad’s use or will mask the contract

revenues when the Waybill Sample is

filed with the Board.

(2) When a railroad intends to use its

own proprietary masking procedure,

those procedures, and any changes in

those procedures, must be approved by

the Board thirty (30) days prior to their

use.

(3) All railroads that use a proprietary

masking procedure, and intend to

continue to use the same procedure,

must certify, by letter to the Board, prior

to January 31 each year, that the

contract revenue masking procedures

are unchanged.

(4) All correspondence and

certifications concerning masking

procedures should be addressed to:

Director, Office of Economics,

Environmental Analysis, and

Administration, Surface Transportation

Board, Washington, DC 20423–0001,

ATTN: WAYBILL COORDINATOR.

[FR Doc. 00–15319 Filed 6–15–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P