16408 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 

1New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway 

Corp. v. Jackson, New Jersey Meadowlands 

Commission et al., No. 05–4010, 2007 WL 576431 

(D.N.J. Feb. 21, 2007), appeal docketed, No. 07–

1675 (3d Cir. Mar. 16, 2007). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Finance Docket No. 34797] 

New England Transrail, LLC, D/B/A 

Wilmington & Woburn Terminal 

Railway—Construction, Acquisition 

and Operation Exemption—in 

Wilmington and Woburn, MA 

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, 

DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of oral argument. 

SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation 

Board will hold an oral argument on 

Thursday, April 19, 2007, at 10 a.m., at 

its offices in Washington, DC. The 

argument will explore what planned 

activities by the above-referenced 

petitioner would be part of rail 

transportation subject to the Board’s 

jurisdiction. All current parties of 

record may participate, and New 

England Transrail, LLC (NET) is 

directed to participate. 

DATES: Any current party of record in 

STB Finance Docket No. 34797 wishing 

to speak at the oral argument should file 

with the Board a written notice of intent 

to participate, and should identify a 

requested time allotment as soon as 

possible, but no later than April 6, 2007. 

The Board will issue a decision 

allocating times to the participants. 

Each participant should submit a 

written statement of its position on 

April 16, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: All notices of intent to 

participate may be submitted either via 

the Board’s e-filing format or in the 

traditional paper format. Any person 

using e-filing should comply with 

directions posted at the Board’s http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov Web site, at the ‘‘EFILING’’ link. E-filers, please remember 

that formal filings must be submitted as 

a PDF document and, if available, in the 

original electronic document format 

(such as Word, Excel or WordPerfect). 

Any person submitting a filing in the 

traditional paper format should send an 

original and 10 copies of the filing to: 

Surface Transportation Board, Attn: STB 

Finance Docket No. 34797, 395 E Street, 

SW., Washington, DC 20423–0001. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: 

Joseph Dettmar, (202) 245–0395. 

[Assistance for the hearing impaired is 

available through the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: 

(800) 877–8339.] 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 5, 2005, NET, a noncarrier, 

filed a petition for exemption to acquire, 

construct, and operate a rail line and 

related facilities in Wilmington and 

Woburn, MA. NET proposes to receive 

by truck at the site, and provide rail 

transportation for, a variety of 

commodities, including sand and 

gravel, plastic resins, liquids, municipal 

solid waste (MSW) and construction 

and demolition debris (C&D). NET 

explains that it would sort, grind, crush, 

aggregate, segregate, and/or bale all of 

the C&D and some of the MSW it 

receives before loading the materials 

onto rail cars or containers for rail 

shipment. NET asserts that all of its 

proposed activities and operations at the 

site would either constitute rail 

transportation, or would be integrally 

related to such transportation, and 

would therefore be subject to the 

Board’s jurisdiction. A number of 

parties disagree, maintaining that NET’s 

proposed activities involving C&D and 

MSW would not be part of rail 

transportation. 

The Board will conduct an oral 

argument to further explore some of the 

issues raised by NET and the other 

interested parties. NET is directed to 

participate and other parties of record 

are encouraged to participate. 

Participants are asked to be prepared to 

respond to questions from the Board 

based on the record in this case, and, in 

addition, to discuss the following 

issues: 

• Is it premature to issue a 

preliminary decision given the pending 

appeal in the United States Court of 

Appeals for the Third Circuit in the 

New York, Susquehanna and Western 

case 1 and the ongoing Environmental 

Protection Agency remedial 

investigation and feasibility study under 

the Superfund laws on the property on 

which NET proposes to operate the 

business at issue in this matter? 

• What Federal statutes and 

regulations are applicable to facilities 

where C&D and MSW are handled and 

to what extent is their administration 

delegated to the states? 

• Could the Board address the state 

environmental concerns associated with 

NET’s proposal by conditioning any 

Board authorization of NET’s proposal 

on NET permitting state officials to 

periodically inspect the facility? If so, 

could the Board provide for the 

suspension or revocation of NET’s 

authorization on the recommendation of 

state officials based on an unsatisfactory 

inspection, provided that NET has some 

due process recourse to the Board? 

• If the C&D and MSW activities 

proposed by NET are determined not to 

be part of rail transportation, what 

impact would such a decision have on 

this proposal and on the transloading of 

other commodities by railroads? 

• In determining whether a facility is 

a rail transloading facility, must the 

activities that take place there be solely 

transportation activities? 

• In determining whether NET’s 

proposed activities would be part of rail 

transportation, would it be enough that 

an activity facilitates transportation, or 

must that activity be essential to the 

transportation? 

• May a determination be based on 

the type of commodity involved? To 

what extent, if any, does it matter that 

the proposed facility would handle 

multiple commodities? 

• Should C&D and MSW be 

considered differently from all other 

commodities and, if so, on what basis? 

• What is the source of the materials 

other than C&D and MSW that NET 

proposes to transport? Where are those 

shipments destined? Would those 

commodities be segregated from C&D 

and MSW? How would they be 

segregated, loaded and unloaded? 

• Would NET’s proposed activities at 

the transload facility with respect to 

C&D and MSW add value to the 

materials, facilitate the disposal of the 

materials in a landfill or otherwise, or 

serve any purpose other than facilitating 

rail transport? If so, should that have an 

impact on our determination here? 

• To what extent would NET’s 

proposed handling of C&D and MSW be 

directed towards ensuring that the 

material would meet the requirements 

of the landfill, or other receiver, to 

which it would be transported? 

• Does NET anticipate earning 

revenue as a result of any recycling 

activities, e.g., NET’s proposed activities 

of inspection, sorting and reclaiming of 

reusable materials from the C&D and 

MSW at this facility? 

• What is the background of each of 

the principals of NET? What is the 

extent of their prior and current 

involvement in (a) the railroad industry; 

(b) the trucking industry; (c) the MSW 

and C&D industries; and (d) 

environmental compliance issues? How 

was the NET project conceived? 

Date of Oral argument. The oral 

argument will begin at 10 a.m. on 

Thursday, April 19, 2007, in the 1st 

floor hearing room at the Board’s 

headquarters at 395 E Street, SW., in 

Washington, DC, and will continue until 

every person scheduled to speak has 

been heard. 

Notice of Intent to Participate. Any 

party of record wishing to speak at the 

oral argument should file with the 

Board a written notice of intent to 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 16409 

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 (SEA) 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 OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee 

which is currently set at $1,300. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(25). 

participate, and should indicate a 

requested time allotment, as soon as 

possible, but no later than April 6, 2007. 

Board Releases and Live Audio 

Available Via the Internet. Decisions 

and notices of the Board, including this 

notice, are available on the Board’s Web 

site at http://www.stb.dot.gov. This oral 

argument will be available on the 

Board’s Web site by live audio 

streaming. To access the oral argument, 

click on the ‘‘Live Audio’’ link under 

‘‘Information Center’’ at the left side of 

the home page beginning at 10 a.m. on 

April 19, 2007. 

This action will not significantly 

affect either the quality of the human 

environment or the conservation of 

energy resources. 

Dated: March 29, 2007. 

Vernon A. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–6214 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Docket No. AB–6 (Sub-No. 449X)] 

BNSF Railway Company—

Abandonment Exemption—in Swift 

County, MN 

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has 

filed a notice of exemption under 49 

CFR part 1152 subpart F—Exempt 

Abandonments to abandon a rail line 

between Engineering Stations 0 + 00 

and 28 + 61, near Appleton, in Swift 

County, MN, a distance of 0.54 miles. 

The line traverses United States Postal 

Service Zip Code 56208. 

BNSF has certified that: (1) No local 

traffic has moved over the line for at 

least 2 years; (2) any overhead traffic on 

the line can be rerouted; (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 or with 

any U.S. District Court or has been 

decided in favor of complainant within 

the 2-year period; and (4) the 

requirements of 49 CFR 1105.7 

(environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.8 

(historic report), 49 CFR 1105.11 

(transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 

(newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 

1152.50(d)(l) (notice to governmental 

agencies) have been met. 

As a condition to this exemption, any 

employees adversely affected by the 

abandonment 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 May 4, 

2007, 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 April 16, 

2007. Petitions to reopen or requests for 

public use conditions under 49 CFR 

1152.28 must be filed by April 24, 2007, 

with: Surface Transportation Board, 395 

E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. 

A copy of any petition filed with the 

Board should be sent to BNSF’s 

representative: Sidney L. Strickland, Jr., 

3050 K Street, NW., Suite 101, 

Washington, DC 20007. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. 

BNSF has filed environmental and 

historic reports which address the 

effects, if any, of the abandonment on 

the environment and historic resources. 

SEA will issue an environmental 

assessment (EA) by April 9, 2007. 

Interested persons may obtain a copy of 

the EA by writing to SEA (Room 1100, 

Surface Transportation Board, 

Washington, DC 20423–0001) or by 

calling SEA, at (202) 245–0305. 

[Assistance for the hearing impaired is 

available through the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–

800–877–8339.] 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), BNSF shall file a notice of 

consummation with the Board to signify 

that it has exercised the authority 

granted and fully abandoned the line. If 

consummation has not been effected by 

BNSF’s filing of a notice of 

consummation by April 4, 2008, 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 Web site at http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov. 

Decided: March 23, 2007. 

By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Vernon A. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–5784 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

International Affairs; Survey of Foreign 

Ownership of U.S. Securities 

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, 

Department of the Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of reporting 

requirements. 

SUMMARY: By this Notice, the 

Department of the Treasury is informing 

the public that it is conducting a 

mandatory survey of foreign ownership 

of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2007. 

This Notice constitutes legal notification 

to all United States persons (defined 

below) who meet the reporting 

requirements set forth in this Notice that 

they must respond to, and comply with, 

this survey. Additional copies of the 

reporting forms SHLA (2007) and 

instructions may be printed from the 

Internet at: http://www.treas.gov/tic/ 

forms-sh.html. 

Definition: A U.S. person is any 

individual, branch, partnership, 

associated group, association, estate, 

trust, corporation, or other organization 

(whether or not organized under the 

laws of any State), and any government 

(including a foreign government, the 

United States Government, a state, 

provincial, or local government, and any 

agency, corporation, financial 

institution, or other entity or 

instrumentality thereof, including a 

government-sponsored agency), who 

resides in the United States or is subject 

to the jurisdiction of the United States. 

Who Must Report: The panel for this 

survey is based upon the level of foreign 

holdings of U.S. securities reported on 

the June 2004 benchmark survey of 

foreign holdings of U.S. securities, and 

will consist mostly of the largest 

reporters on that survey. Entities 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES