Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 197 / Friday, October 10, 1997 / Notices 53057

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 $900. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25).

Tennessee/East Tennessee has also

specified locations in western

Pennsylvania, central Tennessee, and

offshore Louisiana where it proposes

altering maximum allowable operating

pressure to suit local conditions.

The company believes superior safety

can be achieved by enhanced damage

prevention, increased patrolling, the use

of internal inspection tools, and the

reallocation of funds to re-habilitation

projects on its higher risk pipeline

segments.

OPS is interested in entering into

consultations with Tennessee/East

Tennessee because its risk management

program has the potential to:

• Provide examples of data collection

and analysis tools for supporting risk

management; and

• Provide examples of how

companies can use risk management to

re-allocate resources to re-habilitation

projects and other high value safety

activities.

The proposed Tennessee/East

Tennessee demonstration project also

has the potential to help OPS examine

the benefits of risk management as a

regulatory alternative under a variety of

conditions because of the following

distinguishing features:

• Consideration of worker safety as

well as public safety in risk assessment;

• Examination of the risk control

potential of a number of existing

regulations;

• The use of risk-based arguments for

establishing MAOP; and

• The breadth of the demonstration

site (which includes four OPS regions:

Southern, Eastern, Central, and

Southwest; and 17 states).

Tennessee/East Tennessee’s risk

management program coordinator and

point-of-contact is Daron Moore. He can

be reached at Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Company, P.O. Box 2511, Houston, TX,

77252–2511, or by calling (713) 757–

4023.

Issued in Washington, DC, on October 6,

1997.

Richard B. Felder,

Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.

[FR Doc. 97–26916 Filed 10–9–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB–77 (Sub-No. 10X)]

Bangor & Aroostook Railroad

Company—Abandonment Exemption—

in Aroostook County, ME

Bangor & Aroostook Railroad

Company (Applicant) has filed a notice

of exemption under 49 CFR 1152

Subpart F—Exempt Abandonments to

abandon a 5.66-mile line of railroad on

the Fort Fairfield Branch from milepost

F–13.00 to the end of the branch at

milepost F–18.66, in the Town of Fort

Fairfield, in Aroostook County, ME. The

line traverses United States Postal

Service Zip Code 04742.

Applicant 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 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 November 9, 1997, 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 October 20,

1997. Petitions to reopen or requests for

public use conditions under 49 CFR

1152.28 must be filed by October 30,

1997, 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: Sebastian Ferrer,

Esquire, Gollatz, Griffin & Ewing, P.C.,

213 W. Miner Street, P. O. Box 796,

West Chester, PA 19381–0796.

If the verified notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio.

Applicant has filed an environmental

report which addresses the

abandonment’s effects, if any, on the

environment and historic resources. The

Section of Environmental Analysis

(SEA) will issue an environmental

assessment (EA) by October 15, 1997.

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), Applicant 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 Applicant’s filing of a notice

of consummation by October 10, 1998,

and there are no legal or regulatory

barriers to consummation, the authority

to abandon will automatically expire.

Decided: October 6, 1997.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–27026 Filed 10–9–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB–290 (Sub-No. 191X)]

Interstate Railroad Company—

Abandonment Exemption—in Wise

County, VA

Interstate Railroad Company

(Interstate) has filed a notice of

exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart

F—Exempt Abandonments to abandon a

2.6-mile line of its railroad between

milepost D–0.0 at Dorchester Junction

and milepost D–2.6 at Dorchester, in

Wise County, VA. The line traverses