28316 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 97 / Thursday, May 20, 2010 / Notices 

The interest of railroad employees 

will be protected by the conditions set 

forth in Oregon Short Line Railroad and 

The Union Pacific Railroad Company— 

Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch 

Between Firth and Ammon, In Bingham 

and Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 

I.C.C. 91 (1979). 

By issuance of this notice, the Board 

is instituting an exemption proceeding 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 10502(b). A final 

decision will be issued on or before 

August 18, 2010. 

Any offer of financial assistance 

(OFA) under 49 CFR 1152.27(b)(2) will 

be due no later than 10 days after 

service of a decision granting the 

petition for exemption. Each OFA must 

be accompanied by a $1,500 filing fee. 

See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25). 

All interested persons should be 

aware that, following abandonment of 

rail service and salvage of the line, the 

line may be suitable for other public 

use, including interim trail use. Any 

request for a public use condition under 

49 CFR 1152.28 or for trail use/rail 

banking under 49 CFR 1152.29 will be 

due no later than June 9, 2010. Each 

trail use request must be accompanied 

by a $250 filing fee. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(27). 

All filings in response to this notice 

must refer to Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 

701X) and must be sent to: (1) Surface 

Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20423–0001; and (2) 

Louis E. Gitomer, 600 Baltimore Ave., 

Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204, and 

Steven Armbrust, 500 Water St., 

Jacksonville, FL 32202. Replies to the 

petition are due on or before June 9, 

2010. 

Persons seeking further information 

concerning abandonment procedures 

may contact the Board’s Office of Public 

Assistance, Governmental Affairs and 

Compliance at (202) 245–0238 or refer 

to the full abandonment or 

discontinuance regulations at 49 CFR 

part 1152. Questions concerning 

environmental issues may be directed to 

the Board’s Section of Environmental 

Analysis (SEA) at (202) 245–0305. 

[Assistance for the hearing impaired is 

available through the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 

1–800–877–8339.] 

An environmental assessment (EA) (or 

environmental impact statement (EIS), if 

necessary) prepared by SEA will be 

served upon all parties of record and 

upon any agencies or other persons who 

commented during its presentation. 

Other interested persons may contact 

SEA to obtain a copy of the EA (or EIS). 

EAs in these abandonment proceedings 

normally will be made available within 

60 days of the filing of the petition. The 

deadline for submission of comments on 

the EA generally will be within 30 days 

of its service. 

Board decisions and notices are 

available on our Web site at: http:// 

www.stb.dot.gov. 

Decided: May 14, 2010. 

By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Kulunie L. Cannon, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2010–12067 Filed 5–19–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Notice of Buy America Waiver Request 

by Oregon Department of 

Transportation for Steel Roof Tiles To 

Be Used in Union Station Roof 

Rehabilitation 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), United States 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of Buy America waiver 

request and request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The FRA is issuing this notice 

to advise the public that the Oregon 

Department of Transportation (‘‘ODOT’’) 

has requested a waiver from the Buy 

America requirements of the Passenger 

Rail Investment and Improvement Act 

of 2008 (‘‘PRIIA’’) (49 U.S.C. 24405(a)) 

for the purchase of metal roof tiles made 

of 40/45 KSI #2, 24 Gauge (0.0276’’) 

Galvanized ‘‘Non-Fluting’’ Steel Stock 

with Kynar PPG 5LR82411 or L/G 

Rodda Red II Paint finish color. ODOT 

is seeking a waiver in order to complete 

the rehabilitation of the historic Union 

Station roof in Portland, Oregon as one 

component of a project funded by FRA 

under the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (‘‘Recovery 

Act’’). The purpose of this notice is to 

seek public comment on whether the 

FRA should grant a waiver to its Buy 

America requirements in 49 U.S.C. 

24405(a). 

DATES: Written Comments: Written 

comments must be received by June 3, 

2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by the docket number FRA– 

2010–0085 by any one of the following 

methods: 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251; 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590; 

• Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, 

West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays; or 

• Electronically through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal, http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name, docket name 

and docket number or Regulatory 

Identification Number (‘‘RIN’’) for this 

rulemaking. Note that all comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

Please see the Privacy Act section of this 

document. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov at any time or to 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 

Docket Operations, M–30, West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

For Further Information Contact: For 

questions about this notice, please 

contact Mr. Chris Van Nostrand, 

Attorney-Advisor, FRA Office of Chief 

Counsel, (202) 493–6058 or via e-mail at 

christopher.vannostrand@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Recovery Act requires the FRA to 

apply the Buy America provisions 

contained in PRIIA, at 49 U.S.C. 

24405(a), to grants obligated with 

Recovery Act funds. PRIIA section 

24405(a)(1) authorizes the Secretary of 

Transportation (‘‘Secretary’’) to obligate 

grant funds only if the steel, iron, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

are produced in the United States. 

However, PRIIA section 24405(a)(2) also 

permits the Secretary to waive the Buy 

America requirements if he finds that; 

(A) applying paragraph (1) would be 

inconsistent with the public interest; (B) 

the steel, iron, and goods manufactured 

in the United States are not produced in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

amount or are not of a satisfactory 

quality; (C) rolling stock or power train 

equipment cannot be bought or 

delivered to the United States within a 

reasonable time; or (D) including 

domestic material will increase the cost 

of the overall project by more than 25 

percent. 

If the Secretary determines that it is 

necessary to waive the Buy American 

provisions, PRIIA section 24405(a)(4) 

requires that the Secretary provide 

public notice of such a finding and 


wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with NOTICES_PART 1
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 97 / Thursday, May 20, 2010 / Notices 28317 

provide an opportunity for comment. In 

addition, PRIIA requires a detailed 

written justification for the decision be 

published in the Federal Register. This 

notice informs the public that ODOT 

has requested a Buy America waiver for 

the roofing tiles and requests public 

comment on the potential waiver. 

ODOT has requested the waiver 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 24405(a)(2)(B) 

because it believes that for the reasons 

set forth in this notice below the 

manufactured goods, the metal roofing 

tiles, are not reasonably available in the 

United States and that therefore a 

waiver is warranted. 

In its Buy America waiver request to 

the FRA, ODOT distinguishes between 

‘‘field’’ tiles which are used for the 

majority of the roof rehabilitation and 

‘‘specialty’’ tiles which are used for the 

ridge, hip and valley area of the roof. 

ODOT states that after researching 

potential manufacturers of the roof tiles 

it found only two companies in North 

America capable of manufacturing the 

tiles necessary to complete this project. 

Furthermore, the one American firm 

ODOT identified, W.F. Norman, stated it 

might be a good source for the specialty 

tiles but turned down the request to 

manufacture the field tiles. The other 

firm capable and willing to produce the 

field tiles is Heather & Little Limited 

located in Ontario, Canada. ODOT has 

also explored the possibility of custom 

fabricating the tiles. However, ODOT 

found that custom fabrication would 

cost upwards of $1.5 million whereas 

the cost of purchasing the manufactured 

tiles would be approximately $1 

million. 

While this $500,000 price disparity 

does not trigger the PRIIA section 

24405(a)(2)(D) waiver for instances 

where procuring domestic material 

would increase the cost of the overall 

project by more than 25 percent, it does 

represent a substantial increase in 

project cost. In addition, custom 

fabrication does not equate to 

‘‘reasonably available’’ manufactured 

goods as ODOT would have to specially 

fabricate field tiles that are otherwise 

available through mass production 

albeit from a foreign source. Thus, since 

ODOT could not find a reasonable 

domestic source and the only other 

option is procuring the field tiles from 

a foreign manufacturer, it requests that 

the Secretary grant a Buy America 

waiver based on non-availability. 

In addition to FRA’s grant, the Federal 

Highway Administration (‘‘FHWA’’) is 

also providing funding for the Union 

Station rehabilitation with a portion of 

its Recovery Act funds. Pursuant to 

FHWA’s Buy America policy contained 

in 23 CFR. 635.410 and Division K, 

section 130 of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 

110–161), FHWA published a notice of 

intent to issue a waiver on its Web site 

for the roof tiles (available at http:// 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/ 

contracts/waivers.cfm?id=39). FHWA 

posted its request for comments on its 

Web site on October 22, 2009 and 

sought public comment for a period of 

fifteen days while it considered the 

waiver request. After determining the 

Buy America waiver was appropriate, 

FHWA published a Notice of Finding in 

the Federal Register on December 4, 

2009 and invited comment for an 

additional fifteen days (74 FR 63316, 

Dec. 4, 2009). According to its Notice, 

FHWA did not receive any substantive 

comments that led it to believe that the 

roof tiles made of 40/45 KSI #2, 24 

Gauge (0.0276’’) Galvanized ‘‘NonFluting’’ Steel Stock with Kynar PPG 

5LR82411 or L/G Rodda Red II Paint 

Finish Color are available from a 

domestic source. Furthermore, FHWA 

conducted its own nationwide review to 

locate potential domestic manufacturers 

for the roof tiles but did not uncover any 

additional domestic sources of the field 

tiles. After considering ODOT’s waiver 

request and its own internal review of 

potential tile manufacturers, FHWA 

concluded that ‘‘[b]ased on all of the 

information available to the agency, the 

FHWA concludes that there are no 

domestic manufacturers of the roof tiles’’ 

and that the Buy America waiver was 

appropriate based on non-availability. 

With this information in mind and in 

order to completely understand the facts 

surrounding ODOT’s request, FRA seeks 

comment from all interested parties 

regarding the availability of 

domestically manufactured field tiles of 

the materials described above and the 

potential Buy America waiver. 

Issued in Washington, DC on May 17, 

2010. 

Paul Nissenbaum, 

Director, Office of Passenger and Freight 

Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2010–12157 Filed 5–19–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Highway Administration 

Notice of Final Federal Agency Actions 

on Proposed Highways in Michigan 

AGENCY: Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of Decision by FHWA 

and Notice of Limitation of Claims for 

Judicial Review of Actions by FHWA 

and Other Federal Agencies. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

availability of a Record of Decision by 

FHWA pursuant to the requirements of 

the National Environmental Protection 

Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 

4321, as amended and the Council on 

Environmental Quality Regulations (40 

CFR Parts 1500–1508). In addition, this 

Notice announces actions taken by 

FHWA and other Federal agencies that 

are final within the meaning of 23 

U.S.C. 139(1)(1). These actions relate to 

proposed improvements to US–31, M– 

104, and construction of a new M–231 

route in Ottawa County, Michigan. 

These actions grant approvals for the 

project. 

DATES: By this notice, the FHWA is 

advising the public of final agency 

actions subject to 23 U.S.C. 771 and 23 

U.S.C. 139(1)(1). A claim seeking 

judicial review of the Federal Agency 

actions on the highway project will be 

barred unless the claim is filed on or 

before November 16, 2010 (180 days 

from May 20, 2010). If the Federal law 

that authorizes that judicial review of a 

claim provides a time period of less 

than 180 days for filing such claim, then 

that shorter time period still applies. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David Williams, Environmental Program 

Manager, Federal Highway 

Administration Michigan Division, 315 

West Allegan Street, Room 201, Lansing, 

MI 48933; phone: (517) 702–1820, Fax: 

(517) 377–1804; and e-mail: 

David.Williams@dot.gov. Ms. Ruth 

Hepfer, Area Engineer, Federal Highway 

Administration Michigan Division, 315 

West Allegan Street, Room 201, Lansing, 

MI 48933; phone: (517) 702–1847, Fax: 

(517) 377–1844; E-mail: 

Ruth.Hepfer@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given that the FHWA and other 

Federal agencies have taken final agency 

actions by issuing approvals for the 

following highway project in the State 

of Michigan: US–31 (Holland to Grand 

Haven). The Selected alternative will: 

construct a new north-south M–231 

route (between M–45 and I–96), 

improve M–104 in the vicinity of the 

M–104/M–231/I–96 junction (including 

improvements to the 112th Avenue 

Interchange), improve US–31 in the City 

of Grand Haven, from south of Franklin 

Street to north of Jackson Street, and 

improve US–31 in the City of Holland 

from Lakewood Boulevard north to 

Quincy Street. The selected alternative 

is located in the cities of Holland and 

Grand Haven, in Ottawa County, 

Michigan. 


wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with NOTICES_PART 1