New England Transrail, LLC, D/B/A Wilmington & Woburn Terminal Railway-Construction, Acquisition and Operation Exemption-in Wilmington and Woburn, MA, 16408-16409 [E7-6214]

Download as PDF 16408 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [STB Finance Docket No. 34797] New England Transrail, LLC, D/B/A Wilmington & Woburn Terminal Railway—Construction, Acquisition and Operation Exemption—in Wilmington and Woburn, MA AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES ACTION: Notice of oral argument. SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board will hold an oral argument on Thursday, April 19, 2007, at 10 a.m., at its offices in Washington, DC. The argument will explore what planned activities by the above-referenced petitioner would be part of rail transportation subject to the Board’s jurisdiction. All current parties of record may participate, and New England Transrail, LLC (NET) is directed to participate. DATES: Any current party of record in STB Finance Docket No. 34797 wishing to speak at the oral argument should file with the Board a written notice of intent to participate, and should identify a requested time allotment as soon as possible, but no later than April 6, 2007. The Board will issue a decision allocating times to the participants. Each participant should submit a written statement of its position on April 16, 2007. ADDRESSES: All notices of intent to participate may be submitted either via the Board’s e-filing format or in the traditional paper format. Any person using e-filing should comply with directions posted at the Board’s https:// www.stb.dot.gov Web site, at the ‘‘EFILING’’ link. E-filers, please remember that formal filings must be submitted as a PDF document and, if available, in the original electronic document format (such as Word, Excel or WordPerfect). Any person submitting a filing in the traditional paper format should send an original and 10 copies of the filing to: Surface Transportation Board, Attn: STB Finance Docket No. 34797, 395 E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20423–0001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Joseph Dettmar, (202) 245–0395. [Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: (800) 877–8339.] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 5, 2005, NET, a noncarrier, filed a petition for exemption to acquire, construct, and operate a rail line and related facilities in Wilmington and VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:57 Apr 03, 2007 Jkt 211001 Woburn, MA. NET proposes to receive by truck at the site, and provide rail transportation for, a variety of commodities, including sand and gravel, plastic resins, liquids, municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition debris (C&D). NET explains that it would sort, grind, crush, aggregate, segregate, and/or bale all of the C&D and some of the MSW it receives before loading the materials onto rail cars or containers for rail shipment. NET asserts that all of its proposed activities and operations at the site would either constitute rail transportation, or would be integrally related to such transportation, and would therefore be subject to the Board’s jurisdiction. A number of parties disagree, maintaining that NET’s proposed activities involving C&D and MSW would not be part of rail transportation. The Board will conduct an oral argument to further explore some of the issues raised by NET and the other interested parties. NET is directed to participate and other parties of record are encouraged to participate. Participants are asked to be prepared to respond to questions from the Board based on the record in this case, and, in addition, to discuss the following issues: • Is it premature to issue a preliminary decision given the pending appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the New York, Susquehanna and Western case 1 and the ongoing Environmental Protection Agency remedial investigation and feasibility study under the Superfund laws on the property on which NET proposes to operate the business at issue in this matter? • What Federal statutes and regulations are applicable to facilities where C&D and MSW are handled and to what extent is their administration delegated to the states? • Could the Board address the state environmental concerns associated with NET’s proposal by conditioning any Board authorization of NET’s proposal on NET permitting state officials to periodically inspect the facility? If so, could the Board provide for the suspension or revocation of NET’s authorization on the recommendation of state officials based on an unsatisfactory inspection, provided that NET has some due process recourse to the Board? • If the C&D and MSW activities proposed by NET are determined not to 1 New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Corp. v. Jackson, New Jersey Meadowlands Commission et al., No. 05–4010, 2007 WL 576431 (D.N.J. Feb. 21, 2007), appeal docketed, No. 07– 1675 (3d Cir. Mar. 16, 2007). PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 be part of rail transportation, what impact would such a decision have on this proposal and on the transloading of other commodities by railroads? • In determining whether a facility is a rail transloading facility, must the activities that take place there be solely transportation activities? • In determining whether NET’s proposed activities would be part of rail transportation, would it be enough that an activity facilitates transportation, or must that activity be essential to the transportation? • May a determination be based on the type of commodity involved? To what extent, if any, does it matter that the proposed facility would handle multiple commodities? • Should C&D and MSW be considered differently from all other commodities and, if so, on what basis? • What is the source of the materials other than C&D and MSW that NET proposes to transport? Where are those shipments destined? Would those commodities be segregated from C&D and MSW? How would they be segregated, loaded and unloaded? • Would NET’s proposed activities at the transload facility with respect to C&D and MSW add value to the materials, facilitate the disposal of the materials in a landfill or otherwise, or serve any purpose other than facilitating rail transport? If so, should that have an impact on our determination here? • To what extent would NET’s proposed handling of C&D and MSW be directed towards ensuring that the material would meet the requirements of the landfill, or other receiver, to which it would be transported? • Does NET anticipate earning revenue as a result of any recycling activities, e.g., NET’s proposed activities of inspection, sorting and reclaiming of reusable materials from the C&D and MSW at this facility? • What is the background of each of the principals of NET? What is the extent of their prior and current involvement in (a) the railroad industry; (b) the trucking industry; (c) the MSW and C&D industries; and (d) environmental compliance issues? How was the NET project conceived? Date of Oral argument. The oral argument will begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2007, in the 1st floor hearing room at the Board’s headquarters at 395 E Street, SW., in Washington, DC, and will continue until every person scheduled to speak has been heard. Notice of Intent to Participate. Any party of record wishing to speak at the oral argument should file with the Board a written notice of intent to E:\FR\FM\04APN1.SGM 04APN1 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices participate, and should indicate a requested time allotment, as soon as possible, but no later than April 6, 2007. Board Releases and Live Audio Available Via the Internet. Decisions and notices of the Board, including this notice, are available on the Board’s Web site at https://www.stb.dot.gov. This oral argument will be available on the Board’s Web site by live audio streaming. To access the oral argument, click on the ‘‘Live Audio’’ link under ‘‘Information Center’’ at the left side of the home page beginning at 10 a.m. on April 19, 2007. This action will not significantly affect either the quality of the human environment or the conservation of energy resources. Dated: March 29, 2007. Vernon A. Williams, Secretary. [FR Doc. E7–6214 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [STB Docket No. AB–6 (Sub-No. 449X)] jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES BNSF Railway Company— Abandonment Exemption—in Swift County, MN BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has filed a notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F—Exempt Abandonments to abandon a rail line between Engineering Stations 0 + 00 and 28 + 61, near Appleton, in Swift County, MN, a distance of 0.54 miles. The line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 56208. BNSF has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the line for at least 2 years; (2) any overhead traffic on the line can be rerouted; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the line (or by a state or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the line either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board or with any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the 2-year period; and (4) the requirements of 49 CFR 1105.7 (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.8 (historic report), 49 CFR 1105.11 (transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(l) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met. As a condition to this exemption, any employees adversely affected by the abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line R. Co.— VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:57 Apr 03, 2007 Jkt 211001 Abandonment—Goshen, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed. Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received, this exemption will be effective on May 4, 2007, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,1 formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),2 and trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by April 16, 2007. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April 24, 2007, with: Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20423– 0001. A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to BNSF’s representative: Sidney L. Strickland, Jr., 3050 K Street, NW., Suite 101, Washington, DC 20007. If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio. BNSF has filed environmental and historic reports which address the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. SEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by April 9, 2007. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to SEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423–0001) or by calling SEA, at (202) 245–0305. [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), BNSF shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify 1 The 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. 2 Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee which is currently set at $1,300. See 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25). PO 00000 Frm 00085 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 16409 that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the line. If consummation has not been effected by BNSF’s filing of a notice of consummation by April 4, 2008, 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 https:// www.stb.dot.gov. Decided: March 23, 2007. By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting Director, Office of Proceedings. Vernon A. Williams, Secretary. [FR Doc. E7–5784 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs; Survey of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Securities Departmental Offices, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice of reporting requirements. AGENCY: SUMMARY: By this Notice, the Department of the Treasury is informing the public that it is conducting a mandatory survey of foreign ownership of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2007. This Notice constitutes legal notification to all United States persons (defined below) who meet the reporting requirements set forth in this Notice that they must respond to, and comply with, this survey. Additional copies of the reporting forms SHLA (2007) and instructions may be printed from the Internet at: https://www.treas.gov/tic/ forms-sh.html. Definition: A U.S. person is any individual, branch, partnership, associated group, association, estate, trust, corporation, or other organization (whether or not organized under the laws of any State), and any government (including a foreign government, the United States Government, a state, provincial, or local government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof, including a government-sponsored agency), who resides in the United States or is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Who Must Report: The panel for this survey is based upon the level of foreign holdings of U.S. securities reported on the June 2004 benchmark survey of foreign holdings of U.S. securities, and will consist mostly of the largest reporters on that survey. Entities E:\FR\FM\04APN1.SGM 04APN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 4, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16408-16409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6214]



[[Page 16408]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 34797]


New England Transrail, LLC, D/B/A Wilmington & Woburn Terminal 
Railway--Construction, Acquisition and Operation Exemption--in 
Wilmington and Woburn, MA

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of oral argument.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board will hold an oral argument on 
Thursday, April 19, 2007, at 10 a.m., at its offices in Washington, DC. 
The argument will explore what planned activities by the above-
referenced petitioner would be part of rail transportation subject to 
the Board's jurisdiction. All current parties of record may 
participate, and New England Transrail, LLC (NET) is directed to 
participate.

DATES: Any current party of record in STB Finance Docket No. 34797 
wishing to speak at the oral argument should file with the Board a 
written notice of intent to participate, and should identify a 
requested time allotment as soon as possible, but no later than April 
6, 2007. The Board will issue a decision allocating times to the 
participants. Each participant should submit a written statement of its 
position on April 16, 2007.

ADDRESSES: All notices of intent to participate may be submitted either 
via the Board's e-filing format or in the traditional paper format. Any 
person using e-filing should comply with directions posted at the 
Board's https://www.stb.dot.gov Web site, at the ``E-FILING'' link. E-
filers, please remember that formal filings must be submitted as a PDF 
document and, if available, in the original electronic document format 
(such as Word, Excel or WordPerfect). Any person submitting a filing in 
the traditional paper format should send an original and 10 copies of 
the filing to: Surface Transportation Board, Attn: STB Finance Docket 
No. 34797, 395 E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20423-0001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Joseph Dettmar, (202) 245-0395. 
[Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: (800) 877-8339.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 5, 2005, NET, a noncarrier, 
filed a petition for exemption to acquire, construct, and operate a 
rail line and related facilities in Wilmington and Woburn, MA. NET 
proposes to receive by truck at the site, and provide rail 
transportation for, a variety of commodities, including sand and 
gravel, plastic resins, liquids, municipal solid waste (MSW) and 
construction and demolition debris (C&D). NET explains that it would 
sort, grind, crush, aggregate, segregate, and/or bale all of the C&D 
and some of the MSW it receives before loading the materials onto rail 
cars or containers for rail shipment. NET asserts that all of its 
proposed activities and operations at the site would either constitute 
rail transportation, or would be integrally related to such 
transportation, and would therefore be subject to the Board's 
jurisdiction. A number of parties disagree, maintaining that NET's 
proposed activities involving C&D and MSW would not be part of rail 
transportation.
    The Board will conduct an oral argument to further explore some of 
the issues raised by NET and the other interested parties. NET is 
directed to participate and other parties of record are encouraged to 
participate. Participants are asked to be prepared to respond to 
questions from the Board based on the record in this case, and, in 
addition, to discuss the following issues:
     Is it premature to issue a preliminary decision given the 
pending appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third 
Circuit in the New York, Susquehanna and Western case \1\ and the 
ongoing Environmental Protection Agency remedial investigation and 
feasibility study under the Superfund laws on the property on which NET 
proposes to operate the business at issue in this matter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Corp. v. Jackson, 
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission et al., No. 05-4010, 2007 WL 
576431 (D.N.J. Feb. 21, 2007), appeal docketed, No. 07-1675 (3d Cir. 
Mar. 16, 2007).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     What Federal statutes and regulations are applicable to 
facilities where C&D and MSW are handled and to what extent is their 
administration delegated to the states?
     Could the Board address the state environmental concerns 
associated with NET's proposal by conditioning any Board authorization 
of NET's proposal on NET permitting state officials to periodically 
inspect the facility? If so, could the Board provide for the suspension 
or revocation of NET's authorization on the recommendation of state 
officials based on an unsatisfactory inspection, provided that NET has 
some due process recourse to the Board?
     If the C&D and MSW activities proposed by NET are 
determined not to be part of rail transportation, what impact would 
such a decision have on this proposal and on the transloading of other 
commodities by railroads?
     In determining whether a facility is a rail transloading 
facility, must the activities that take place there be solely 
transportation activities?
     In determining whether NET's proposed activities would be 
part of rail transportation, would it be enough that an activity 
facilitates transportation, or must that activity be essential to the 
transportation?
     May a determination be based on the type of commodity 
involved? To what extent, if any, does it matter that the proposed 
facility would handle multiple commodities?
     Should C&D and MSW be considered differently from all 
other commodities and, if so, on what basis?
     What is the source of the materials other than C&D and MSW 
that NET proposes to transport? Where are those shipments destined? 
Would those commodities be segregated from C&D and MSW? How would they 
be segregated, loaded and unloaded?
     Would NET's proposed activities at the transload facility 
with respect to C&D and MSW add value to the materials, facilitate the 
disposal of the materials in a landfill or otherwise, or serve any 
purpose other than facilitating rail transport? If so, should that have 
an impact on our determination here?
     To what extent would NET's proposed handling of C&D and 
MSW be directed towards ensuring that the material would meet the 
requirements of the landfill, or other receiver, to which it would be 
transported?
     Does NET anticipate earning revenue as a result of any 
recycling activities, e.g., NET's proposed activities of inspection, 
sorting and reclaiming of reusable materials from the C&D and MSW at 
this facility?
     What is the background of each of the principals of NET? 
What is the extent of their prior and current involvement in (a) the 
railroad industry; (b) the trucking industry; (c) the MSW and C&D 
industries; and (d) environmental compliance issues? How was the NET 
project conceived?
    Date of Oral argument. The oral argument will begin at 10 a.m. on 
Thursday, April 19, 2007, in the 1st floor hearing room at the Board's 
headquarters at 395 E Street, SW., in Washington, DC, and will continue 
until every person scheduled to speak has been heard.
    Notice of Intent to Participate. Any party of record wishing to 
speak at the oral argument should file with the Board a written notice 
of intent to

[[Page 16409]]

participate, and should indicate a requested time allotment, as soon as 
possible, but no later than April 6, 2007.
    Board Releases and Live Audio Available Via the Internet. Decisions 
and notices of the Board, including this notice, are available on the 
Board's Web site at https://www.stb.dot.gov. This oral argument will be 
available on the Board's Web site by live audio streaming. To access 
the oral argument, click on the ``Live Audio'' link under ``Information 
Center'' at the left side of the home page beginning at 10 a.m. on 
April 19, 2007.
    This action will not significantly affect either the quality of the 
human environment or the conservation of energy resources.

    Dated: March 29, 2007.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-6214 Filed 4-3-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

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