Surface Transportation Board – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) proposes a streamlined approach for pleading market dominance in rate reasonableness proceedings. The Board expects that this streamlined approach would reduce burdens on parties, expedite proceedings, and make the Board's rate relief procedures more accessible, especially for complainants with smaller cases.

As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) gives notice of its intent to seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an extension of the collection of Class I Railroad Annual Reports, described below.

Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the National Grain Car Council (NGCC), pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) updates for 2019 the fees that the public must pay to file certain cases and pleadings with the Board. Pursuant to this update, 93 of the Board's 135 fees will be increased and 42 fees will be maintained at their current levels.

The Board is granting an exemption from the prior approval requirements for Palmetto Railways to construct and operate a new rail line in Berkeley County, SC (the Line). The Line will be used to provide rail service to Volvo Cars of North America and other potential shippers in the Camp Hall Commerce Park. This exemption is subject to environmental mitigation conditions.

The Surface Transportation Board, Office of Environmental Analysis, published a document in the Federal Register of June 19, 2019, concerning preparation of an environmental impact statement, scheduled scoping meetings, and a request for comments on the draft scope of study. The street address for the first scoping meeting listed was incorrect.

Spring 2019 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Publication of the Spring 2019 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions represents a key component of the regulatory planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735) and Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 93390, January 30, 2017, Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs. The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish semiannual regulatory agendas in the Federal Register describing regulatory actions they are developing that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). In the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) agencies report regulatory actions upcoming in the next year. Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735), and Office of Management and Budget memoranda implementing section 4 of that Order establish minimum standards for agencies' agendas, including specific types of information for each entry. The Unified Agenda helps agencies fulfill these requirements. All Federal regulatory agencies have chosen to publish their regulatory agendas as part of the Unified Agenda. The complete publication of the Spring 2019 Unified Agenda containing the regulatory agendas for 71 Federal agencies, is available to the public at https://reginfo.gov. The Spring 2019 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal Register consists of agency regulatory flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.