71888 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 229 / Wednesday, November 30, 2005 / Notices 

2The 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. 3Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing 

fee, which currently is set at $1,200. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(25). 

1See Blackwell & Northern Railway Company, 

Inc.—Operation Exemption—Oklahoma 

Department of Transportation and Blackwell 

Industrial Authority, STB Finance Docket No. 

34265 (STB served Nov. 4, 2002). 

Provided no formal expression of 

intent to file an offer of financial 

assistance (OFA) has been received, this 

exemption will be effective on 

December 30, 2005, unless stayed 

pending reconsideration. Petitions to 

stay that do not involve environmental 

issues,2 formal expressions of intent to 

file an OFA under 49 CFR 

1152.27(c)(2),3 and trail use/rail banking 

requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be 

filed by December 9, 2005. Petitions to 

reopen or requests for public use 

conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must 

be filed by December 20, 2005, with the 

Surface Transportation Board, 1925 K 

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. 

A copy of any petition filed with the 

Board should be sent to UP’s 

representative: Mack H. Shumate, Jr., 

Senior General Attorney, 101 North 

Wacker Drive, Room 1920, Chicago, IL 

60606. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. 

UP has filed a combined 

environmental report and historic report 

which addresses the effects, if any, of 

the abandonment on the environment 

and historic resources. SEA will issue 

an environmental assessment (EA) by 

December 5, 2005. Interested persons 

may obtain a copy of the EA by writing 

to SEA (Room 500, Surface 

Transportation Board, Washington, DC 

20423–0001) or by calling SEA, at (202) 

565–1539. [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), UP 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 

UP’s filing of a notice of consummation 

by November 30, 2006, 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: November 22, 2005. 

By the Board, David M. Konschnik, 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Vernon A. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 05–23424 Filed 11–29–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Surface Transportation Board 

[STB Finance Docket No. 34777] 

Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad 

Company—Change in Operators 

Exemption—Oklahoma Department of 

Transportation and Blackwell 

Industrial Authority 

Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad 

Company (BNGR), a noncarrier, has 

filed a verified notice of exemption 

under 49 CFR 1150.31 to operate 35.26 

miles of the rail line, owned by the State 

of Oklahoma by and through the 

Oklahoma Department of Transportation 

and Blackwell Industrial Authority. The 

rail line extends: (1) Between milepost 

34.3 at Blackwell, OK, and milepost 18 

+ 1712.9 feet at the Oklahoma/Kansas 

State line near Hun Newell, KS; (2) 

between milepost 35 + 1848 feet, west 

of Blackwell, OK, and milepost 34.3 at 

Blackwell, OK; and (3) between 

milepost 18 + 1712.9 feet at the 

Oklahoma/Kansas State line near Hun 

Newell, KS, and milepost 0 + 466.3 feet, 

at Wellington, KS. BNGR will replace 

Blackwell & Northern Railway 

Company, which has been operating 

over the line, and will become a class 

III rail carrier.1 BNGR certifies that its 

projected revenues as a result of this 

transaction will not exceed those that 

would quality it as a Class III carrier and 

that such revenues would not exceed $5 

million. 

The transaction was scheduled to be 

consummated no earlier than November 

7, 2005, the effective date of the 

exemption (7 days after the exemption 

was filed). 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. Petitions to reopen the 

proceeding 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 

transaction. 

An original and 10 copies of all 

pleadings, referring to STB Finance 

Docket No. 34777, must be filed with 

the Surface Transportation Board, 1925 

K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each 

pleading must be served on, Thomas F. 

McFarland, Thomas F. McFarland, P.C., 

208 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1890, 

Chicago, IL 60604–1112. 

Board decisions and notices are 

available on our Web site at http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov. 

Decided: November 22, 2005. 

By the Board, David M. Konschnik, 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Vernon A. Williams, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E5–6678 Filed 11–29–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

U.S.-CHINA ECONOMIC AND 

SECURITY REVIEW COMMISSION 

Notice of Open Public Hearing 

AGENCY: U.S.-China Economic and 

Security Review Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of open public hearing. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the 

following hearing of the U.S.-China 

Economic and Security Review 

Commission. 

Name: C. Richard D’Amato, Chairman 

of the U.S.-China Economic and 

Security Review Commission. 

The Commission is mandated by 

Congress to investigate, assess, evaluate 

and report to Congress annually on ‘‘the 

national security implications of the 

bilateral trade and economic 

relationship between the United States 

and the People’s Republic of China.’’

Pursuant to this mandate, the 

Commission will be holding a public 

hearing in Washington, DC on December 

8, 2005. 

Background 

This event is the first in a series of 

public hearings the Commission will 

hold during its 2005–2006 report cycle 

to collect input from leading experts in 

academia, business, industry, 

government and the public on the 

impact of U.S-China trade and economic 

relations. The December 8 hearing is 

being conducted to secure commentary 

about issues connected to the Hong 

Kong Ministerial Conference of the 

Doha Round of the World Trade 

Organization’s trade expansion 

negotiations that will occur on 

December 13–18, 2005. Information on 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 229 / Wednesday, November 30, 2005 / Notices 71889 

upcoming hearings, as well as 

transcripts of past Commission hearings, 

can be obtained from the USCC Web site 

http://www.uscc.gov. 

The December 8 hearing will be cochaired by Commissioners George 

Becker of Pittsburgh and Professor June 

Teufel Dreyer of The University of 

Miami. 

Purpose of Hearing 

The hearing is designed to assist the 

Commission in fulfilling its mandate by 

examining the issues to be addressed at 

the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference 

of the Doha Round of the World Trade 

Organization’s Trade Expansion 

Negotiations. Invited witnesses include 

international trade law experts, 

administration officials, and labor and 

industry representatives. 

The hearing will focus on the process 

whereby U.S. trade objectives are 

determined and pursued. It will also 

address the results of the U.S. trade 

policies toward China, discuss the 

results of the Doha Round of WTO 

negotiations, and provide an assessment 

of the Administration’s fulfillment of 

Congressional objects as defined under 

the Trade Promotion Authority. 

Copies of the hearing agenda will be 

made available on the Commission’s 

Web site at http://www.uscc.gov. Any 

interested party may file a written 

statement by December 8, 2005, by 

mailing to the contact below. 

Date and Time: Thursday, December 

8, 2005, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. eastern 

standard time inclusive. A detailed 

agenda for the hearing will be posted to 

the Commission’s Web site at http:// 

www.uscc.gov in the near future. 

ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held in 

the Capitol Hill complex, Washington, 

DC, in a hearing room to be announced. 

Public Seating is limited to about 70 

people on a first come, first served basis. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any 

member of the public wishing further 

information concerning the hearing 

should contact Kathy Michels, Associate 

Director for the U.S.-China Economic 

and Security Review Commission, 444 

North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 602, 

Washington, DC 20001; phone 202–624–

1409, or via e-mail at 

kmichels@uscc.gov. 

Authority: The Commission was 

established in October 2000 pursuant to the 

Floyd D. Spence National Defense 

Authorization Act Section 1238, Pub. L. 106–

398, 114 STAT. 1654A–334 (2000) (codified 

at 22 U.S.C. Section 7002 (2001), as 

amended, and the ‘‘Consolidated 

Appropriations Resolution of 2003,’’ Pub. L. 

No. 108–7 dated February 20, 2003. 

Dated: November 23, 2005. 

Kathleen J. Michels, 

Associate Director, U.S.-China Economic and 

Security Review Commission. 

[FR Doc. 05–23494 Filed 11–29–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1137–00–P