18798 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 78 / Friday, April 24, 2009 / Notices 

applicants until the proposal review 

process has been completed. 

VIII. Other Information 

Notice 

The terms and conditions published 

in this RFGP are binding and may not 

be modified by any Bureau 

representative. Explanatory information 

provided by the Bureau that contradicts 

published language will not be binding. 

Issuance of the RFGP does not 

constitute an award commitment on the 

part of the Government. The Bureau 

reserves the right to reduce, revise, or 

increase proposal budgets in accordance 

with the needs of the program and the 

availability of funds. Awards made will 

be subject to periodic reporting and 

evaluation requirements per section VI.3 

above. 

Dated: April 17, 2009. 

C. Miller Crouch, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, for Educational 

and Cultural Affairs, Department of State. 

[FR Doc. E9–9350 Filed 4–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 6590] 

Inclusion of Expiration Dates in 

Presidential Permits for International 

Border Crossings 

SUMMARY: The Department of State 

announces, in consultation with 

relevant Federal agencies, that it will 

include an expiration date among the 

conditions it establishes in Presidential 

permits that it issues for the 

construction, operation, and 

maintenance of border crossing 

facilities. Based on the Department’s 

experience and on interagency 

consultations, the Department intends 

to provide for the expiration of permits 

for vehicular border crossings (i.e., 

crossings for cars, trucks, buses, and 

trains) ten (10) years after issuance 

unless the permittee notifies the 

Department within that timeframe that 

construction has begun, and for the 

expiration of permits for all other border 

crossing facilities (e.g., pipelines, 

conveyor belts, pedestrian crossings, 

etc.) five (5) years after issuance unless 

the permittee notifies the Department 

within that timeframe that construction 

has begun. The Department believes that 

this provision provides sufficient time 

for viable projects to move forward 

while preventing unexecuted permits 

from creating needless uncertainty and/ 

or hindering the development of worthy 

projects that would better serve the 

national interest. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Daniel Darrach, U.S.-Mexico Border 

Affairs Coordinator, via e-mail at WHABorderAffairs@state.gov; by phone at 

202–647–9894; or by mail at Office of 

Mexican Affairs—Room 3909, 

Department of State, 2201 C St., NW., 

Washington, DC 20520. Information 

about Presidential permits is available at 

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rt/permit/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive 

Order (EO) 11423 of August 16, 1968, as 

amended, authorizes the Secretary of 

State to issue Presidential permits for 

the construction, connection, operation, 

and maintenance of facilities crossing 

the international borders of the United 

States, including, but not limited to, 

bridges and pipelines connecting the 

United States with Canada or Mexico. 

EO 13337, dated April 30, 2004, 

amended EO 11423, inter alia, by 

expanding the Presidential permit 

program to include at-grade land border 

crossings. In order to issue a 

Presidential permit, the Secretary or her 

delegate must find that a border crossing 

is in the U.S. national interest. Within 

the context of appropriate border 

security, safety, health, and 

environmental requirements, it is in the 

U.S. national interest to facilitate the 

efficient movement of legitimate goods 

and travelers across U.S. borders. 

Since 1968, the Department has 

issued 21 Presidential permits for nonpipeline border crossings on the U.S.- 

Mexico border and one for the U.S.- 

Canada border. Of the 21 U.S.-Mexican 

border projects that have received 

permits, most began construction within 

two to five years. One permitted project 

took 16 years to be built, one is under 

construction nearly 30 years after 

receiving a permit, and three are not 

likely to be built although they have had 

permits more than 10 years (one of these 

permits is more than 30 years old). 

These permits were issued to the City of 

Mission, Texas (1978), the Union Pacific 

Railroad Company (1995), and the 

Brownsville Navigation District (1997). 

The Department is currently evaluating 

whether it should revoke these permits, 

given the change of circumstances in 

each of the project areas, development 

of nearby projects, inaction by the 

permittees on the proposed projects, 

and lack of interest in pursuing the 

corresponding projects in Mexico. 

The Presidential permit process, 

which emphasizes interagency and 

binational coordination, is designed to 

ensure that border crossings are built if 

and only if there is clear local, 

binational, and interagency support for 

the project and construction is in the 

U.S. national interest. It is not in the 

U.S. national interest to commit scarce 

government resources (e.g., Customs 

and Border Protection inspectors, 

highway improvement funds, etc.) as 

well as private resources (e.g., land, 

capital, etc.) for border crossing projects 

that cannot be successfully 

implemented within a reasonable time 

period. The lapse of time may have an 

impact on the Department’s national 

interest determination. While the 

Department may find a project to be in 

the U.S. national interest under a certain 

set of circumstances in one period, 

those circumstances may change over 

time so that five or ten years later, the 

Department may conclude that the 

project is no longer in the U.S. national 

interest or that the relevant agencies 

should reconsider their 

recommendations on the Department’s 

initial grant of the permit. Border 

regions are dynamic and fast-changing 

and it is important that an outdated 

permit not be used to build a border 

crossing on a site that is no longer 

appropriate for a crossing due to the 

lapse of time (e.g., due to changes in 

transportation patterns, development 

patterns, etc.). 

At the same time, the Department 

recognizes that, by their nature, border 

crossing projects are complex, time 

consuming, and subject to political, 

financial, regulatory, and logistical 

setbacks. It is unrealistic to expect 

permits to be implemented instantly 

and it would be inefficient to set permit 

expiration dates on such a short 

timeframe that the relevant agencies are 

required to review them repeatedly 

while waiting for construction to begin. 

The Department has determined, after 

consulting with relevant Federal 

agencies, including the Border 

Facilitation Working Group, and giving 

the matter careful consideration, that 

Presidential permits for vehicular 

border crossings (for cars, trucks, buses, 

and trains) will be valid for a period of 

ten (10) years, while permits for all 

other border crossing facilities (e.g., 

pipelines, conveyor belts, pedestrian 

crossings, etc.) will be valid for a period 

of five (5) years. In the Department’s 

experience, vehicular border crossings 

typically involve intricate coordination 

among numerous agencies and often use 

Federal financing that is not 

immediately available, whereas other 

border crossing projects are generally 

smaller in scale, less expensive, and 

dependent on private financing that is 

more readily available. The Department 

intends to tie the expiration condition 

in the permit to the date the permit is 

signed and expects that this expiration 

condition will be satisfied by the 

permittee’s notice to the Department 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 78 / Friday, April 24, 2009 / Notices 18799 

1Notice of the filing was served on February 27, 

2009, and published in the Federal Register on the 

same day at 74 FR 9019. WSOR concurrently filed 

a motion for protective order, which was granted by 

decision served on March 20, 2009. 

that the construction authorized by the 

permit has begun. 

If, after a permit has expired, a 

permittee continues to believe that the 

project should be built, the Department 

would welcome the submission of a 

revised Presidential permit application 

that demonstrats current local support, 

shows that the project is financially 

feasible, and explains based on updated 

traffic and other studies why the project 

continues to be in the U.S. national 

interest. This new application would 

generally need to be accompanied by 

updated environmental review 

documents, in keeping with the Council 

on Environmental Quality’s guidance 

that environmental documents more 

than five years old are considered out of 

date. 

In December 2008, the Department 

issued to the General Services 

Administration a Presidential permit 

containing an expiration clause for the 

new border crossing to be built at Otay 

Mesa East, near San Diego, California. 

Dated: April 17, 2009. 

Alex Lee, 

Director, Office of Mexican Affairs, 

Department of State. 

[FR Doc. E9–9352 Filed 4–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–29–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Finance Docket No. 35144] 

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad 

Company—Acquisition and Operation 

Exemption—Union Pacific Railroad 

Company 

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, 

DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of exemption. 

SUMMARY: Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the 

Board is granting a petition for 

exemption from the prior approval 

requirements of 49 U.S.C. 10902 for the 

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad 

Company (WSOR), a Class II rail carrier, 

to acquire and operate a permanent 

exclusive freight rail operating easement 

over approximately 10.95 miles of 

railroad known as the Kohler Industrial 

Lead that is currently owned by Union 

Pacific Railroad Company (UP) and to 

acquire and operate approximately 

1,000 feet of UP spur track, subject to 

labor protective conditions. The 

easement extends from a connection 

with WSOR’s north-south Kiel-toSaukville line at milepost 14.95 at 

Plymouth, WI, to milepost 4.0 near 

Kohler, WI. The UP spur track 

constitutes the lead to the site of the 

former Cargill Malt Plant at Kohler. This 

transaction is related to a concurrently 

filed verified notice of exemption in 

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.— 

Trackage Rights Exemption—Union 

Pacific Railroad Company, STB Finance 

Docket No. 35191. In that proceeding, 

WSOR seeks to acquire from UP and 

operate 2.8 miles of overhead trackage 

rights over a line of railroad extending 

between UP milepost 4.0 in Kohler and 

UP milepost 1.2 at Kohler Junction near 

Sheboygan, WI.1 This transaction is also 

related to a concurrently filed petition 

for declaratory order filed in Wisconsin 

Department of Transportation—Petition 

for Declaratory Order—Rail Line in 

Sheboygan County, WI, STB Finance 

Docket No. 35195. In that proceeding, 

the Wisconsin Department of 

Transportation seeks a finding that its 

acquisition of the right-of-way and 

railroad assets of the 10.95-mile rail line 

will not render it a rail common carrier. 

WSOR has requested expedited action 

in this proceeding. 

DATES: This exemption will be effective 

on May 8, 2009. Petitions to stay must 

be filed by May 4, 2009. Petitions for 

reconsideration must be filed by May 

14, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: An original and 10 copies of 

all pleadings, referring to STB Finance 

Docket No. 35144, 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 WSOR’s 

representative: John D. Heffner, John D. 

Heffner, PLLC, 1750 K Street, NW., 

Suite 200, Washington, DC 20006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joseph H. Dettmar, (202) 245–0395. 

[Assistance for the hearing impaired is 

available through the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 

1–800–877–8339]. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Additional information is contained in 

the Board’s decision. Board decisions 

and notices are available on our Web 

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

Decided: April 20, 2009. 

By the Board, Chairman Mulvey, and Vice 

Chairman Nottingham. 

Jeffrey Herzig, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. E9–9449 Filed 4–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA 2009–0001–N–9] 

Proposed Agency Information 

Collection Activities; Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 

its implementing regulations, the 

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) 

hereby announces that it is seeking 

approval of the following information 

collection activities. Before submitting 

these information collection 

requirements for clearance by the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA 

is soliciting public comment on specific 

aspects of the activities identified 

below. 

DATES: Comments must be received no 

later than June 23, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments 

on any or all of the following proposed 

activities by mail to either: Mr. Robert 

Brogan, Office of Safety, Planning and 

Evaluation Division, RRS–21, Federal 

Railroad Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 17, 

Washington, DC 20590, or Ms. Nakia 

Jackson, Office of Information 

Technology, RAD–20, Federal Railroad 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 

SE., Mail Stop 35, Washington, DC 

20590. Commenters requesting FRA to 

acknowledge receipt of their respective 

comments must include a self-addressed 

stamped postcard stating, ‘‘Comments 

on OMB control number 2130—New.’’ 

Alternatively, comments may be 

transmitted via facsimile to (202) 493– 

6216 or (202) 493–6497, or via e-mail to 

Mr. Brogan at robert.brogan@dot.gov, or 

to Ms. Jackson at 

nakia.jackson@dot.gov. Please refer to 

the assigned OMB control number and 

the title of the information collection in 

any correspondence submitted. FRA 

will summarize comments received in 

response to this notice in a subsequent 

notice and include them in its 

information collection submission to 

OMB for approval. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Robert Brogan, Office of Planning and 

Evaluation Division, RRS–21, Federal 

Railroad Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Ave., SE., Mail Stop 17, 

Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 

493–6292) or Ms. Nakia Jackson, Office 

of Information Technology, RAD–20, 

Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES