Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 13 / Friday, January 19, 2018 / Notices 2865 

1With the verified notice, Soo Line filed a motion 

for a protective order to protect the confidential and 

commercially sensitive information contained in 

the agreement, which Soo Line submitted under 

seal. That motion will be addressed in a separate 

decision. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elliot Chiu in the Office of the Legal 

Adviser, U.S. Department of State 

(telephone: 202–632–6471; email: 

section2459@state.gov). The mailing 

address is U.S. Department of State, L/ 

PD, SA–5, Suite 5H03, Washington, DC 

20522–0505. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

foregoing determinations were made 

pursuant to the authority vested in me 

by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 

985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), E.O. 12047 of 

March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs 

Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 

(112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 

note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority 

No. 234 of October 1, 1999, Delegation 

of Authority No. 236–3 of August 28, 

2000 (and, as appropriate, Delegation of 

Authority No. 257–1 of December 11, 

2015). I have ordered that Public Notice 

of these determinations be published in 

the Federal Register. 

Alyson Grunder, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Bureau 

of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 

Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00911 Filed 1–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD 

[Docket No. FD 36162] 

Soo Line Railroad Company— 

Trackage Rights Exemption—BNSF 

Railway Company 

Soo Line Railroad Company (Soo 

Line), a Class I rail carrier, has filed a 

verified notice of exemption under 49 

CFR 1180.2(d)(7) to renew overhead 

trackage rights over approximately 137 

miles of rail line owned and operated by 

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) 

between Minneapolis, Minn., and 

Superior, Wis. (the Line). 

Soo Line states that the purpose of the 

transaction is to renew the overhead 

trackage rights agreement governing Soo 

Line’s continued freight service between 

Minneapolis, Minn., and Superior, Wis. 

The agreement provides trackage rights 

to Soo Line over two separate routes 

from Minneapolis that converge on 

BNSF’s Staples Subdivision. The first 

route is from milepost 11.4+/¥ on 

BNSF’s Staples Subdivision at or near 

University Avenue in Minneapolis, 

Minn. to the connection at milepost 

21.0+/¥ with BNSF’s Hinckley 

Subdivision near Coon Creek, Minn. 

(Hinckley Subdivision milepost 136.9 

+/¥). The second route is over the 

North Runner Lead from BNSF’s 

Northtown Yard to Soo Line’s Shoreham 

Yard at milepost 11.66+/¥ on BNSF’s 

St. Paul Subdivision to the connection 

at milepost 16.25+/¥ on BNSF’s Staples 

Subdivision and thence to the 

connection with BNSF’s Hinckley 

Subdivision near Coon Creek, Minn. 

From there, Soo Line’s trackage rights 

continue to the connection at Hinckley 

Subdivision milepost 11.8+/¥ with 

BNSF’s Lakes Subdivision in Boylston, 

Wis. (Lakes Subdivision milepost 

12.6+/¥), and thence to Lakes 

Subdivision milepost 9.4+/¥ at M&J 

Junction in Superior, Wis., including 

the BNSF-owned turnout at milepost 

10.44+/¥ to the Saunders Connecting 

Track. Soo Line acquired the trackage 

rights in its 1985 acquisition of the 

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and 

Pacific Railroad Company’s assets. 

According to Soo Line, the parties 

intend to enter into a written agreement 

renewing the overhead trackage rights, 

and a redacted copy of the draft 

agreement has been submitted as an 

exhibit with its verified notice.1

As a condition to this exemption, any 

employees affected by the trackage 

rights will be protected by the 

conditions imposed in Norfolk & 

Western Railway—Trackage Rights— 

Burlington Northern, Inc., 354 I.C.C. 605 

(1978), as modified in Mendocino Coast 

Railway—Lease & Operate—California 

Western Railroad, 360 I.C.C. 653 (1980). 

The transaction may be consummated 

on or after February 4, 2018, the 

effective date of the exemption (30 days 

after the verified notice was filed). 

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 January 26, 2018 

(at least seven days before the 

exemption before effective). 

An original and 10 copies of all 

pleadings, referring to Docket No. 

36162, must be filed with the Surface 

Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, 

Washington, DC 20423–0001. In 

addition, one copy of each pleading 

must be served on W. Karl Hansen, 

Stinson Leonard Street LLP, 50 South 

Sixth St., Suite 2600, Minneapolis, MN 

55402. 

According to Soo Line, this action is 

categorically excluded from 

environmental review under 49 CFR 

1105.6(c) and from historic reporting 

under 49 CFR 1105.8(b). 

Board decisions and notices are 

available on our website at 

WWW.STB.GOV. 

Decided: January 16, 2018. 

By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Jeffrey Herzig, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00927 Filed 1–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Requests for Comments; 

Clearance of a Renewed Approval of 

Information Collection: Helicopter Air 

Ambulance Operator Reports 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA 

invites public comments about our 

intention to request the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approval to renew an information 

collection. The Federal Register Notice 

with a 60-day comment period soliciting 

comments on the following collection of 

information was published on 

November 3, 2017 (82 FR 51331). 

The FAA Modernization and Reform 

Act of 2012 mandates that all helicopter 

air ambulance operators must begin 

reporting the number of flights and 

hours flown, along with other specified 

information, during which helicopters 

operated by the certificate holder are 

providing helicopter air ambulance 

services. The helicopter air ambulance 

operational data provided to the FAA is 

used by the agency as background 

information useful in the development 

of risk mitigation strategies to reduce 

the helicopter air ambulance accident 

rate, and to meet the mandates set by 

Congress. 

In response to the November 3, 2017 

notice and request for comments, the 

FAA received two comments. One 

comment from an individual and one 

comment from the Air Medical 

Operators Association (AMOA). The 

individual commented that the hourly 

burden per average response estimate 

has increased since the last notice was 

published on July 29, 2014 (79 FR 

44083) and asked for the reason for the 

change in estimated burden. In 

response, the FAA clarifies that none of 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
2866 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 13 / Friday, January 19, 2018 / Notices 

the requirements have changed, but 

operator data have changed. The overall 

number of operators has decreased. 

Additionally, the number of large 

operators (to which we attribute a 

higher hourly burden) has increased and 

the number of small operators (to which 

we attribute a lower hourly burden) has 

decreased. Therefore, in the aggregate, 

the average hourly burden increased 

from six (6) hours to eleven (11) hours 

per operator. 

The AMOA commented that they 

strongly supported the intent of the data 

collection requirement, but also noted 

that the original collection requirement 

should have been the subject of notice 

and comment rulemaking. The FAA 

notes, as indicated in the August 12, 

2013 Requests for Comments; Clearance 

of a New Approval of Information 

Collection: Helicopter Air Ambulance 

Operator Reports (78 FR 48925), that 

prior to issuance of the first information 

collection notice, representatives from 

the Flight Standards Service, Office of 

Accident Investigation and Prevention, 

and the Office of the Chief Counsel met 

with representatives from AMOA to 

discuss the FAA’s approach to this data 

collection. Meetings were held on 

October 15, 2012 and May 17, 2013. On 

June 28, 2013 AMOA submitted a 

response to the FAA discussing its view 

of the method to collect the data being 

pursued by the FAA. A copy of that 

letter was placed in the docket (FAA– 

2013–0684) and was considered by the 

agency. 

AMOA also commented that the FAA 

has underestimated the hourly burden 

for both large and small operators. 

Although AMOA did not provide any 

specific data to support its comment, in 

response the FAA has increased the 

estimates of hourly burden for both 

large and small operators in this notice 

and request for comments. 

AMOA also requested information 

from the FAA’s Office of Accident 

Investigation and Prevention and 

commented on the FAA’s 

implementation of certain provisions of 

the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 

of 2012, which are both beyond the 

scope of this clearance of a renewed 

approval of information collection. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

submitted by February 20, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments on 

the proposed information collection to 

the Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Office of Management and 

Budget. Comments should be addressed 

to the attention of the Desk Officer, 

Department of Transportation/FAA, and 

sent via electronic mail to oira_

submission@omb.eop.gov, or faxed to 

(202) 395–6974, or mailed to the Office 

of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, 

Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th 

Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for FAA’s 

performance; (b) the accuracy of the 

estimated burden; (c) ways for FAA to 

enhance the quality, utility and clarity 

of the information collection; and (d) 

ways that the burden could be 

minimized without reducing the quality 

of the collected information. The agency 

will summarize and/or include your 

comments in the request for OMB’s 

clearance of this information collection. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara Hall at (940) 594–5913, or by 

email at: Barbara.L.Hall@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 2120–0761. 

Title: Helicopter Air Ambulance 

Operator Reports. 

Form Numbers: Helicopter Air 

Ambulance Mandatory Flight 

Information Report. 

Type of Review: Renewal of an 

information collection. 

Background: The Federal Register 

Notice with a 60-day comment period 

soliciting comments on the following 

collection of information was published 

on November 3, 2017 (82 FR 51331). 

The FAA Modernization and Reform 

Act of 2012 (The Act) mandates that all 

helicopter air ambulance operators must 

begin reporting the number of flights 

and hours flown, along with other 

specified information, during which 

helicopters operated by the certificate 

holder were providing helicopter air 

ambulance services. See Public Law 

112–95, Sec. 306, 49 U.S.C. 44731. The 

FAA Administrator had 180 days to 

develop a methodology to collect and 

store those data. The Act further 

mandates that not later than 2 years 

after the date of enactment, and 

annually thereafter, the Administrator 

shall submit to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

House of Representatives and the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation of the Senate, a report 

containing a summary of the data 

collected. 

The helicopter air ambulance 

operational data provided to the FAA 

will be used by the agency as 

background information useful in the 

development of risk mitigation 

strategies to reduce the helicopter air 

ambulance accident rate, and to meet 

the mandates set by Congress. The 

information requested is limited to the 

minimum necessary to fulfill these 

reporting requirements mandated by the 

Act and as developed by FAA. The 

amount of data required to be submitted 

is proportional to the size of the 

operation. 

Respondents: 65 helicopter air 

ambulance certificate holders. 

Frequency: The information is 

collected annually. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 13.4 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 870 

hours. 

Issued in Fort Worth, TX, on January 8, 

2018. 

Barbara Hall, 

FAA Information Collection Clearance 

Officer, IT Enterprises Business Services 

Division, ASP–110. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00826 Filed 1–18–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Requests for Comments; 

Clearance of Renewed Approval of 

Information Collection: Renewal, 

Rotorcraft External Load Operator 

Certificate Application 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA 

invites public comments about our 

intention to request the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approval to renew an information 

collection. The collection involves the 

submission of application FAA Form 

8710–4 for the certification process. The 

information to be collected will be used 

to and/or is necessary to evaluate the 

operators request to become certified as 

a Rotorcraft External-Load Operator. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

submitted by March 20, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to the FAA 

at the following address: Barbara Hall, 

Federal Aviation Administration, ASP– 

110, 10101 Hillwood Parkway, Fort 

Worth, TX 76177. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for FAA’s 

performance; (b) the accuracy of the 

estimated burden; (c) ways for FAA to 


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