64020 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 179 / Monday, September 18, 2023 / Notices 

1 Despite the name, the Blanca Spur is not 

excepted spur track but track over which the Board 

has licensing authority. 

2 In situations requiring after-the-fact acquisition 

authority, the Board strongly encourages parties to 

file for such authority as soon as possible. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

Francisco Sa ́nchez, Jr., 

Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster 

Recovery & Resilience. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20060 Filed 9–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–09–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #18069 and #18070; 

Mississippi Disaster Number MS–00156] 

Presidential Declaration Amendment of 

a Major Disaster for Public Assistance 

Only for the State of Mississippi 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Amendment 1. 

SUMMARY: This is an amendment of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for Public Assistance Only for 

the State of Mississippi (FEMA–4727– 

DR), dated 08/12/2023. 

Incident: Severe Storms, Straight-line 

Winds, and Tornadoes. 

Incident Period: 06/14/2023 through 

06/19/2023. 

DATES: Issued on 09/07/2023. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 10/11/2023. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 05/13/2024. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A. 

Escobar, Office of Disaster Recovery & 

Resilience, U.S. Small Business 

Administration, 409 3rd Street SW, 

Suite 6050, Washington, DC 20416, 

(202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice 

of the President’s major disaster 

declaration for Private Non-Profit 

organizations in the State of Mississippi, 

dated 08/12/2023, is hereby amended to 

include the following areas as adversely 

affected by the disaster. 

Primary Counties: Adams, Amite, 

Attala, Franklin, Greene, Holmes, 

Humphreys, Itawamba, Jones, Perry, 

Warren, Yazoo. 

All other information in the original 

declaration remains unchanged. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

Francisco Sa ́nchez, Jr., 

Associate Administrator, Office of Disaster 

Recovery & Resilience. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20062 Filed 9–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–09–P 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD 

[Docket No. FD 36694] 

Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad, 

LLC—Petition for Exemption— 

Acquisition and Operation of Line of 

Railroad in Costilla County, Colorado 

The Colorado Pacific Rio Grande 

Railroad, LLC (CP Rio Grande), a Class 

III carrier, filed a petition for exemption 

on June 20, 2023, seeking after-the-fact 

authority to acquire in bankruptcy and 

operate 1.53 miles of track extending 

from milepost 0.0 in Blanca, Colo., to 

milepost 1.53 in McClintock, Colo. (the 

Blanca Spur).1 This petition follows CP 

Rio Grande’s recent acquisition of 

substantially all assets of the San Luis 

& Rio Grande Railroad, Inc. (SLRG), in 

Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad— 

Acquisition & Operation Exemption 

Containing Interchange Commitment— 

San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, FD 

36656 (STB served Jan. 5, 2023). 

Background 

According to CP Rio Grande, the 

Blanca Spur was originally part of a 31- 

mile line completed in 1910 by the San 

Luis Valley Southern Railroad that ran 

from Blanca, Colo., to Jaroso, Colo., and 

connected to the tracks of the Denver & 

Rio Grande Railroad. (Pet. 3.) This line 

was acquired by the Southern San Luis 

Valley Railroad (the old SSLV) in 1953, 

at the direction of the Interstate 

Commerce Commission, the Board’s 

predecessor agency. (Id.) Over time, the 

old SSLV abandoned and sold off 

sections of the line, leaving only the 

Blanca Spur remaining, which the old 

SSLV ceased operating by the mid1990s. (Id.) However, the old SSLV 

never sought abandonment authority for 

the Blanca Spur. (Id.) Instead, it sold the 

Blanca Spur and the underlying right-ofway in 2000 to Richard Vondrak of 

Conejos County, Colo., before dissolving 

as an entity shortly thereafter. (Id.) 

According to CP Rio Grande, Mr. 

Vondrak never sought or received Board 

approval to acquire or operate the 

Blanca Spur. (Id.) In 2007, he sold his 

interests in the Blanca Spur and the 

underlying right-of-way to Iowa Pacific 

Holdings, LLC (IPH), a railroad holding 

company and the parent of Permian 

Basin Railways (PBR), which in turn 

owned SLRG. (Id.) IPH did not seek 

authority for that transaction. Instead, in 

2012, a newly formed Southern San 

Luis Valley Railroad, LLC (the new 

SSLV), filed a verified notice of 

exemption to acquire and operate the 

Blanca Spur from IPH, asking the Board 

to exempt IPH’s 2007 transaction, 

arguing that there was no need for the 

Board to require IPH to ‘‘unscramble’’ it. 

See S. San Luis Valley R.R.— 

Acquisition & Operation Exemption— 

Iowa Pac. Holdings, LLC, FD 35586, slip 

op. at 2 (STB served Feb. 10, 2012). In 

a related transaction, PBR sought an 

exemption to continue in control of the 

new SSLV upon SSLV’s becoming a 

Class III carrier. See Iowa Pac. Holdings, 

LLC—Continuance in Control—S. San 

Luis Valley R.R., FD 35585 (STB served 

Feb. 10, 2012). The Board, considering 

the two proceedings together, rejected 

the new SSLV’s request and denied 

PBR’s request as moot due to the 

insufficiency of the record. S. San Luis 

Valley, slip op. at 3. The Board stated 

that should IPH wish to proceed with 

the contemplated transactions, it should 

trace the history of the Blanca Spur as 

well as it could, with supporting 

evidence, and request specific authority 

from the Board for this prior transaction, 

id., but IPH did not do so, (Pet. 4). 

CP Rio Grande further states that 

SLRG was placed into involuntary 

Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2019, 

with the order granting relief for the 

petition being entered on November 7, 

2019. (Pet. 5.) In March 2021, IPH filed 

for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but it was 

dismissed on January 6, 2022. (Id.) As 

part of a litigation settlement agreement 

entered during those proceedings, the 

ownership of the Blanca Spur was 

transferred from IPH to SLRG’s 

bankruptcy trustee, which the 

bankruptcy court approved on July 14, 

2022. (Id.) SLRG’s bankruptcy trustee 

conveyed the Blanca Spur to CP Rio 

Grande under a purchase and sale 

agreement in January 2023. (Id.) CP Rio 

Grande filed a notice of exemption in 

Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad, 

Docket No. FD 36656, for the acquisition 

of most of SLRG’s assets on December 

20, 2022, and later filed this petition for 

exemption on June 20, 2023. (Pet. 5.) 

Discussion and Conclusions 

The Board finds that CP Rio Grande 

has supplied information sufficient to 

grant this petition.2 The petition and 

supporting documents trace the 

ownership history of the Blanca Spur 

and do not reveal any extant dispute 

over CP Rio Grande’s ownership of the 

Blanca Spur. The documents show that 

SSLV sold the Blanca Spur to Mr. 

Vondrak on July 14, 2000, (id., Ex. B), 

before he then sold it to IPH on May 24, 

2007, (id., Ex. B). During the bankruptcy 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1