Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices 12527 

1The verified notice was initially submitted as a 

request for an operation exemption. On February 

24, 2022, CSBP filed a supplement clarifying that 

the transaction involves a change in operators. 

Accordingly, the docket has been recaptioned as a 

change in operator exemption. 

2See Portland Vancouver Junction R.R.— 

Operation Exemption—Rail Lines of Columbia Bus. 

Ctr., Clark Cnty., Wash., FD 36134 (STB served July 

28, 2017). 

3By letter filed February 21, 2022, CSBP also 

submitted a letter from FC Services, stating that it 

consents to the transfer of operations from PVJR to 

CSBP. 

4CSBP’s supplement, indicating that it was 

seeking a change in operator exemption and that all 

shippers had been notified, was filed on February 

24, 2022, which therefore is deemed the filing date 

of the verified notice. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the 

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) 

may be filed at any time. The filing of 

a petition to revoke will not 

automatically stay the effectiveness of 

the exemption. Petitions for stay must 

be filed no later than March 11, 2022 (at 

least seven days before the exemption 

becomes effective). 

All pleadings, referring to Docket No. 

FD 36583, should be filed with the 

Surface Transportation Board via efiling on the Board’s website. In 

addition, a copy of each pleading must 

be served on Applicant’s representative, 

Richard H. Streeter, Law Office of 

Richard H. Streeter, 5255 Partridge Lane 

NW, Washington, DC 20016. 

According to Applicant, this action is 

categorically excluded from 

environmental review under 49 CFR 

1105.6(c) and from historic preservation 

reporting requirements under 49 CFR 

1105.8(b). 

Board decisions and notices are 

available at www.stb.gov. 

Decided: February 28, 2022. 

By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Tammy Lowery, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04633 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD 

[Docket No. FD 36582] 

Columbia Shipyards Railroad LLC— 

Change in Operator Exemption— 

Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad, 

LLC, Clark County, Wash. 

Columbia Shipyards Railroad LLC 

(CSBP), a noncarrier, has filed a verified 

notice of exemption under 49 CFR 

1150.31 to permit CSBP to acquire from 

its corporate affiliate, Portland 

Vancouver Junction Railroad, LLC 

(PVJR),1 a Class III rail carrier, the rights 

and obligations to perform common 

carrier switching service over 

approximately three miles of tracks 

owned by the Columbia Business 

Center, a non-carrier. The tracks, which 

include no mileposts, are located within 

a business park in Clark County, Wash., 

and interconnect with the lines of BNSF 

Railway Company. 

According to the verified notice, 

Columbia Business Center, pursuant to 

an agreement signed by its agent, FC 

Services, LLC (FC Services), also a noncarrier, entered into an agreement with 

PVJR to provide switching services as a 

common carrier in 2017.2 PVJR also 

operates over a 33-mile line owned by 

Clark County, Wash. PVJR’s owner 

subsequently concluded that the 

establishment of a new corporation 

would be in the best interests of the 

corporate family as it would draw a 

distinction between the generalized 

freight rail operations conducted by 

PVJR and the common carrier railroad 

switching services it performed on 

behalf of Columbia Business Center. 

This transaction is related to a 

concurrently filed verified notice of 

exemption in Eric Temple— 

Continuance in Control—Central 

Washington Railroad, Columbia Basin 

Railroad, Portland Vancouver Junction 

Railroad, and Columbia Shipyards 

Railroad, Docket No. FD 36583, in 

which Eric Temple seeks to continue in 

control of CSBP upon CSBP’s becoming 

a Class III rail carrier. 

CSBP certifies that the transaction 

involves no provision or agreement that 

would limit future interchange with a 

third-party connecting carrier. CSBP 

also certifies that its projected annual 

revenues as a result of this transaction 

will not result in its becoming a Class 

II or Class I rail carrier and that its 

projected annual revenues will not 

exceed $5 million. 

Under 49 CFR 1150.32(b), a change in 

operator requires that notice be given to 

shippers. By supplement filed February 

24, 2022, CSBP certifies that notice of 

the change in operator was served on all 

shippers affected by this transaction.3

The transaction may be consummated 

on or after March 26, 2022, the effective 

date of the exemption (30 days after the 

verified notice was filed).4

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the 

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) 

may be filed at any time. The filing of 

a petition to revoke will not 

automatically stay the effectiveness of 

the exemption. Petitions for stay must 

be filed no later than March 18, 2022 (at 

least seven days before the exemption 

becomes effective). 

All pleadings, referring to Docket No. 

FD 36582, should be filed with the 

Surface Transportation Board via efiling on the Board’s website. In 

addition, a copy of each pleading must 

be served on CSBP’s representative, 

Richard H. Streeter, Law Office of 

Richard H. Streeter, 5255 Partridge Lane 

NW, Washington, DC 20016. 

According to CSBP, this action is 

categorically excluded from 

environmental review under 49 CFR 

1105.6(c) and from historic preservation 

reporting requirements under 49 CFR 

1105.8(b)(1). 

Board decisions and notices are 

available at www.stb.gov. 

Decided: February 28, 2022. 

By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Tammy Lowery, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04632 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA–2022–0004] 

Equivalent Protective Arrangements 

for Railroad Employees 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), U.S. Department 

of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed guidance. 

SUMMARY: FRA proposes guidance for its 

grantees on protective arrangements that 

are required to protect employees 

impacted by certain projects financed by 

the Federal Government. FRA intends 

its final guidance (FRA Guidance) on 

this topic to inform its grantees on how 

to comply with statutory requirements 

for these protections in the performance 

of their grants. 

DATES: Written comments on this 

proposed guidance must be received on 

or before April 18, 2022. Comments 

received after that date will be 

considered to the extent possible 

without incurring additional expense or 

delay. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by the docket number FRA– 

2022–0004 by using the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: https://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number for this guidance. All 

comments received will be posted 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
12528 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices 

without change to https://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Please 

see the Privacy Act heading in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document for Privacy Act 

information related to any submitted 

comments or materials. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read the proposed FRA Guidance, 

background documents, or comments 

received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kevin MacWhorter, Attorney Advisor, 

Office of the Chief Counsel, telephone: 

(202) 641–8727, email: 

kevin.macwhorter@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1976, 

pursuant to the Railroad Revitalization 

and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (4R 

Act), representatives of the railroads and 

their employees agreed on ‘‘[f]air and 

equitable arrangements’’ to protect 

employees impacted by certain projects 

financed by the Federal Government. 

The Secretary of Labor adopted these 

protections in a letter to the Secretary of 

Transportation dated July 6, 1976. FRA 

has placed a copy of this letter and the 

accompanying protections in the docket 

for this guidance. In general, these 

protections provided that a railroad 

employee who is adversely affected by 

a project receiving certain financing 

from the Federal Government was 

entitled to receive a displacement 

allowance, and/or a dismissal 

allowance, among other benefits. 

Many of FRA’s current discretionary 

grant programs, including the 

Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and 

Safety Improvements Program and the 

Federal-State Partnership for State of 

Good Repair Program, are subject to the 

grant conditions described in section 

22905(c) of title 49, U.S.C. As relevant 

here, section 22905(c)(2)(B), requires 

grant applicants, for any grant for a 

project that uses rights-of-way owned by 

a railroad, to agree to comply with ‘‘the 

protective arrangements that are 

equivalent to the protective 

arrangements established under’’ the 4R 

Act. While this requirement is a 

condition of many FRA grants, it is not 

often applicable (as FRA’s grants do not 

typically cause an adverse impact to 

railroad employees). With that said, 

FRA developed the FRA Guidance to 

assist grantees and to facilitate 

compliance with these important 

protections. Once final, FRA intends to 

include the FRA Guidance as an 

appendix to all new grant and 

cooperative agreements subject to 

section 22905(c)(2)(B), and grantees will 

be required to ensure the inclusion of 

the FRA Guidance, as applicable, in all 

contracts for the FRA-funded project. 

Costs incurred to comply with the FRA 

Guidance and in a manner consistent 

with 2 CFR part 200 are eligible for 

reimbursement under the applicable 

grant. 

Section 22905(c)(2)(B) specifically 

requires protective arrangements 

‘‘equivalent’’ to those established under 

the 4R Act. As such, in the FRA 

Guidance, FRA did not deviate from the 

protections adopted by the Secretary of 

Labor in 1976. The FRA Guidance only 

seeks to clarify the protections and to 

ensure grant applicants understand 

them. FRA did not create new, or 

remove existing, protections. As noted, 

FRA has included a copy of the 

Secretary of Labor’s letter and the 

accompanying protections in the docket 

to facilitate review of the FRA 

Guidance. 

The FRA Guidance describes both 

procedural and substantive protections. 

The substantive protections include 

dismissal and displacement allowances 

and moving assistance, among other 

items included in the original 4R Act 

protections. The procedural protections 

include opportunities for employees (or 

their representatives) to engage in 

negotiations with respect to application 

of the protections. 

Privacy Act 

FRA may solicit comments from the 

public to better inform its guidance 

process. FRA posts these comments, 

without edit, including any personal 

information the commenter provides, to 

www.regulations.gov, as described in 

the system of records notice (DOT/ALL– 

14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 

www.dot.gov/privacy. In order to 

facilitate comment tracking and 

response, we encourage commenters to 

provide their name, or the name of their 

organization; however, submission of 

names is completely optional. Whether 

or not commenters identify themselves, 

all timely comments will be fully 

considered. If you wish to provide 

comments containing proprietary or 

confidential information, please contact 

the agency for alternate submission 

instructions. 

Allison Ishihara Fultz, 

Chief Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04530 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

FY 2022 Competitive Funding 

Opportunity: Low or No Emission 

Grant Program and the Grants for 

Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive 

Program 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), Department of Transportation 

(DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of Funding Opportunity 

(NOFO). 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) announces the 

opportunity to apply for approximately 

$1.1 billion in competitive grants under 

the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Low or No 

Emission Grant Program (Low-No 

Program) (Federal Assistance Listing: 

20.526) and approximately $372 million 

in FY 2022 funds under the Grants for 

Buses and Bus Facilities Program (Buses 

and Bus Facilities Program) (Federal 

Assistance Listing 20.526), subject to 

availability of appropriated funding. 

DATES: Complete proposals must be 

submitted electronically through the 

GRANTS.GOV ‘‘APPLY’’ function by 

11:59 p.m. Eastern time on May 31, 

2022. Prospective applicants should 

initiate the process by registering on the 

GRANTS.GOV website promptly to 

ensure completion of the application 

process before the submission deadline. 

ADDRESSES: Instructions for applying 

can be found on FTA’s website at 

https://www.transit.dot.gov/howtoapply 

and in the ‘‘FIND’’ module of 

GRANTS.GOV. The funding 

opportunity ID is FTA–2022–001–TPM– 

LWNO for Low-No applications and 

FTA–2022–002–TPM–BUSC for Buses 

and Bus Facilities applications. Please 

note, if an application is choosing to 

apply to both programs, the applicant 

must submit a GRANTS.GOV package to 

each opportunity ID. Mail and fax 

submissions will not be accepted. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information concerning this 

notice, please contact the Low-No/Bus 

grant program staff via email at 

ftalownobusnofo@dot.gov, or call Amy 

Volz at 202–366–7484. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As 

required by Federal public 

transportation law, Low or No Emission 

Grant Program funds will be awarded 

competitively for the purchase or lease 

of low or no emission vehicles that use 

advanced technologies for transit 

revenue operations, including related 

equipment or facilities. As required by 

Federal public transportation law, Buses 

and Bus Facilities Program funds will be 


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