Class I Railroad Accounting and Financial Reporting-Transportation of Hazardous Materials, 65987-65988 [2016-23144]
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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 186 / Monday, September 26, 2016 / Proposed Rules
(10) A subscriber units must be
compatible with C4FM and CQPSK
Modulation in conformance with the
following standard: TIA TSB–
102.CABA, released December 11, 2013.
(11) A fixed conventional repeater
must be able to repeat the correct/
matching network access code (NAC) for
all subscriber call types (clear and
encrypted) using the same output NAC
in conformance with the following
standard: TIA TSB–102.CABA, released
December 11, 2013.
(12) A fixed conventional repeater
must be able to repeat the correct/
matching network access code (NAC) for
all subscriber call types (clear and
encrypted) using a different output NAC
in conformance with the following
standard: TIA TSB–102.CABA, released
December 11, 2013.
(13) A fixed conventional repeater
must be able to reject (no repeat) all
input transmissions with incorrect
network access code (NAC) in
conformance with the following
standard; TIA TSB–102.CABA, released
December 11, 2013.
(14) A fixed conventional repeater
must be able to support the correct
status symbol indicating when an input
channel is busy in conformance with
the following standard: TIA TSB–
102.CABA, released December 11, 2013.
(15) A fixed conventional repeater
must be able to support the correct
implementation of special reserved
network access code (NAC) values $293,
$F7E, and $F7F in conformance with
the following standard: TIA TSB–
102.CABA, released December 11, 2013.
[FR Doc. 2016–22978 Filed 9–23–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712–01–P
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
49 CFR Parts 1201, 1242
[Docket No. EP 681]
Class I Railroad Accounting and
Financial Reporting—Transportation of
Hazardous Materials
Surface Transportation Board.
Advance notice of proposed
rulemaking, withdrawal.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The Surface Transportation
Board is withdrawing the advance
notice of proposed rulemaking and
discontinuing the EP 681 rulemaking
proceeding which sought comment on
whether and how it should update its
accounting and financial reporting for
Class I rail carriers to better capture the
operating costs of transporting
hazardous materials.
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SUMMARY:
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20:13 Sep 23, 2016
Jkt 238001
The advance notice of proposed
rulemaking published on January 5,
2009 (74 FR 248) is withdrawn and the
rulemaking proceeding is discontinued
on September 22, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Allison Davis at (202) 245–0378.
Assistance for the hearing impaired is
available through the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–
800–877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On
January 5, 2009, in the above titled
docket, the Board issued an Advance
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)
seeking public comment on whether
and how it should update its accounting
and financial reporting for Class I rail
carriers and refine its Uniform Railroad
Costing System (URCS) to better capture
the operating costs of transporting
hazardous materials. For the reasons
stated below, we will discontinue this
proceeding.
The Board uses URCS to determine a
carrier’s variable costs in a variety of
regulatory proceedings. The URCS
model determines, for each Class I
railroad, what portion of each category
of costs shown in that carrier’s Annual
Report to the Board (STB Form R–1)
represents its system-average variable
cost for that year, expressed as a unit
cost. In the ANPR, the Board noted that
there may be unique operating costs
associated with the transportation of
hazardous materials that URCS does not
attribute to those movements. As an
example, the Board suggested that the
transportation of hazardous materials
may require carriers to pay high
insurance premiums, which would be
spread across all traffic of the railroad
rather than being attributed specifically
to the transportation of the hazardous
materials. Additionally, the Board noted
that the Uniform System of Accounts
(USOA)—the accounting standards
which Class I carriers must use to
prepare the financial statements that
they submit to the Board—does not
include a separate classification for
hazardous material operations that
would allow for an accounting of the
assets used and costs incurred in
providing such service.
The Board therefore sought comment
on ‘‘whether and how it should improve
its informational tools to better identify
and attribute the costs of hazardousmaterial transportation movements,’’
including any revisions to the USOA
and improvements to the analytic
capabilities of URCS. ANPR, slip op. at
2. The Board specifically sought
comment on several items, including
how hazardous material operations and
expenses could be reported in a
DATES:
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Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
65987
subschedule of the annual R–1 reports,
a specific definition of what should
constitute a movement of hazardous
material for this purpose, whether that
definition should be limited to
movements of ‘‘Toxic Inhalation
Hazards’’ or not, and the best operating
statistic (such as car-miles, revenue tonmiles, or revenue tons of hazardous
materials movements) for URCS to use
to allocate specified hazardous material
costs to individual movements. In
response to the ANPR, the Board
received comments from multiple
stakeholders, as discussed below.1
DOT agrees that ‘‘additional data
should be reported to [USOA] in order
to identify and quantify these
[hazardous material] costs, and that
URCS should attribute these costs to
hazmat traffic alone rather than to the
entirety of a carrier’s business.’’ (DOT
Comment 2.)
AAR, BNSF, CP, and UP generally
agree with the Board’s stated goals in
this proceeding. (AAR Comment 2;
BNSF Comment 2, CP Comment 7, 9; UP
Comment 7.) However, they also argue
that changes to URCS would not
sufficiently address the railroad
industry’s concerns with transporting
hazardous material. BNSF and NSR
underscore the risk of liability from a
catastrophic accident (BNSF Comment
2; NSR Comment 2–3), while UP
stresses the importance of fairly
apportioning risk across all participants
in the supply chain (UP Comment 2).
The railroads argue that, even if the
Board were to change URCS, they
should also be allowed to present the
unique costs of transporting hazardous
materials in rate proceedings involving
hazardous materials. (See AAR
Comment 2; CP Comment 3–4, 9; NSR
Comment 3; UP Comment 8–9.)
ACC, AECC, and Diversified CPC
argue that the Board should not limit a
review of URCS by any single issue or
commodity, but should instead conduct
a broader review of URCS. (ACC
Comment 2; AECC Comment 2;
Diversified CPC Comment 8.) ACC also
argues that the proposed rulemaking
would be arbitrary and ill-advised
because, while some railroads have
faced one-time costs from settlements of
claims, the railroads have reported few
1 The Board received comments from: The
American Chemistry Council, the Chlorine
Institute, The Fertilizer Institute, and the Edison
Electric Institute (collectively, ACC); Arkansas
Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC); the
Association of American Railroads (AAR); BNSF
Railway Company (BNSF); Canadian Pacific
Railway Company (CP); Diversified CPC
International, Inc. (Diversified CPC); Norfolk
Southern Railway Company (NSR); Union Pacific
Railroad Company (UP); and the U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT).
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65988
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 186 / Monday, September 26, 2016 / Proposed Rules
ongoing, quantifiable costs relating
solely to hazardous materials
transportation. (ACC Comment 2.)
While the Board appreciates the input
it received from the commenters in this
proceeding, it has decided to close this
docket. Although the Board is not
foreclosing the possibility of addressing
this issue in the future, even if it were
to do so, it would be initiated as a new
proceeding. Thus, we will not move
forward with this proceeding at this
time and will discontinue this docket in
the interest of administrative efficiency.
Decided: September 20, 2016.
By the Board, Chairman Elliott, Vice
Chairman Miller, and Commissioner
Begeman.
Marline Simeon,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2016–23144 Filed 9–23–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 635
[Docket No. 160527473–6473–01]
RIN 0648–BG09
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species;
Individual Bluefin Quota Program;
Inseason Transfers
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for
comments; notice of public hearing.
AGENCY:
NMFS proposes to modify the
Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS)
regulations to provide additional
flexibility regarding the distribution of
inseason Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT)
quota transfers to the Longline category.
The proposed rule would provide
NMFS the flexibility to distribute quota
inseason either to all qualified
Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) share
recipients (i.e., share recipients who
have associated their permit with a
vessel) or only to permitted Atlantic
Tunas Longline vessels with recent
fishing activity, whether or not they are
associated with IBQ shares.
DATES: Written comments must be
received on or before October 26, 2016.
NMFS will host an operator-assisted
public hearing conference call and
webinar on October 4, 2016, from 2 to
4 p.m. EDT, providing an opportunity
for individuals from all geographic areas
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SUMMARY:
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20:13 Sep 23, 2016
Jkt 238001
to participate. See SUPPLEMENTARY
for further details.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
on this document, identified by
‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2016–0067,’’ by either
of the following methods:
• Electronic Submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D
=NOAA-NMFS-2016-0067, click the
‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the
required fields, and enter or attach your
comments.
• Mail: Submit written comments to
Thomas Warren, Highly Migratory
Species (HMS) Management Division,
Office of Sustainable Fisheries (F/SF1),
NMFS, 55 Great Republic Drive,
Gloucester, MA 01930.
Instructions: Comments sent by any
other method, to any other address or
individual, or received after the end of
the comment period, may not be
considered by NMFS. All comments
received are a part of the public record
and generally will be posted for public
viewing on www.regulations.gov
without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address, etc.),
confidential business information, or
otherwise sensitive information
submitted voluntarily by the sender will
be publicly accessible. NMFS will
accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/
A’’ in the required fields if you wish to
remain anonymous).
The public hearing conference call
information is phone number (888) 455–
5378; participant passcode 5816248.
Participants are strongly encouraged to
log/dial in 15 minutes prior to the
meeting. NMFS will show a brief
presentation via webinar followed by
public comment. To join the webinar, go
to: https://noaaevents3.webex.com/
noaaevents3/onstage/
g.php?MTID=e20e9f661ee7184823fb28
b56cbf7d16f; meeting number: 993 144
732; password: NOAA. Participants who
have not used WebEx before will be
prompted to download and run a plugin program that will enable them to
view the webinar.
Supporting documents, including the
Regulatory Impact Review and Initial
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, may be
downloaded from the HMS Web site at
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/. These
documents also are available by
contacting Thomas Warren at the
mailing address specified above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Thomas Warren or Sarah McLaughlin,
978–281–9260; Carrie Soltanoff, 301–
427–8503.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regulations implemented under the
INFORMATION
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
authority of the Atlantic Tunas
Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et
seq.) and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801
et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by
persons and vessels subject to U.S.
jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR part
635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S.
BFT quota recommended by the
International Commission for the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
among the various domestic fishing
categories, per the allocations
established in the 2006 Consolidated
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species
Fishery Management Plan (2006
Consolidated HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058,
October 2, 2006), as amended by
Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated
HMS FMP (Amendment 7) (79 FR
71510, December 2, 2014), and in
accordance with implementing
regulations. The current baseline U.S.
BFT quota and subquotas were
established and analyzed in the BFT
quota final rule (80 FR 52198, August
28, 2015). NMFS is required under
ATCA and the Magnuson-Stevens Act to
provide U.S. fishing vessels with a
reasonable opportunity to harvest the
ICCAT-recommended quota.
Background
BFT fishing is managed domestically
through a quota system (on a calendaryear basis), in conjunction with other
management measures including gear
restrictions, minimum fish sizes, closed
areas, trip limits, and catch shares.
NMFS implements the ICCAT U.S.
quota recommendation, and divides the
quota among U.S. fishing categories (i.e.,
the General, Angling, Harpoon, Purse
Seine, Longline, and Trap categories)
and the Reserve category. Quotas are
distributed on an annual basis, but
NMFS also has the regulatory authority
to make inseason adjustments to BFT
quotas after the initial annual
allocations, if the U.S. baseline quota
increases as a result of an ICCAT
recommendation or as a result of a
transfer of quota from the Reserve
category in accordance with specific
regulatory determination criteria.
Vessels fishing with pelagic longline
gear, which catch BFT incidentally
while fishing for target species
(primarily swordfish and yellowfin
tuna), hold limited access Atlantic
Tunas Longline permits and utilize
Longline category quota. Through
Amendment 7, NMFS established the
IBQ Program, a catch share program that
identified 136 permit holders as IBQ
share recipients based on specified
criteria, including historical target
species landings and the bluefin catch-
E:\FR\FM\26SEP1.SGM
26SEP1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 186 (Monday, September 26, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65987-65988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-23144]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
49 CFR Parts 1201, 1242
[Docket No. EP 681]
Class I Railroad Accounting and Financial Reporting--
Transportation of Hazardous Materials
AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking, withdrawal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board is withdrawing the advance
notice of proposed rulemaking and discontinuing the EP 681 rulemaking
proceeding which sought comment on whether and how it should update its
accounting and financial reporting for Class I rail carriers to better
capture the operating costs of transporting hazardous materials.
DATES: The advance notice of proposed rulemaking published on January
5, 2009 (74 FR 248) is withdrawn and the rulemaking proceeding is
discontinued on September 22, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allison Davis at (202) 245-0378.
Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 5, 2009, in the above titled
docket, the Board issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(ANPR) seeking public comment on whether and how it should update its
accounting and financial reporting for Class I rail carriers and refine
its Uniform Railroad Costing System (URCS) to better capture the
operating costs of transporting hazardous materials. For the reasons
stated below, we will discontinue this proceeding.
The Board uses URCS to determine a carrier's variable costs in a
variety of regulatory proceedings. The URCS model determines, for each
Class I railroad, what portion of each category of costs shown in that
carrier's Annual Report to the Board (STB Form R-1) represents its
system-average variable cost for that year, expressed as a unit cost.
In the ANPR, the Board noted that there may be unique operating costs
associated with the transportation of hazardous materials that URCS
does not attribute to those movements. As an example, the Board
suggested that the transportation of hazardous materials may require
carriers to pay high insurance premiums, which would be spread across
all traffic of the railroad rather than being attributed specifically
to the transportation of the hazardous materials. Additionally, the
Board noted that the Uniform System of Accounts (USOA)--the accounting
standards which Class I carriers must use to prepare the financial
statements that they submit to the Board--does not include a separate
classification for hazardous material operations that would allow for
an accounting of the assets used and costs incurred in providing such
service.
The Board therefore sought comment on ``whether and how it should
improve its informational tools to better identify and attribute the
costs of hazardous-material transportation movements,'' including any
revisions to the USOA and improvements to the analytic capabilities of
URCS. ANPR, slip op. at 2. The Board specifically sought comment on
several items, including how hazardous material operations and expenses
could be reported in a subschedule of the annual R-1 reports, a
specific definition of what should constitute a movement of hazardous
material for this purpose, whether that definition should be limited to
movements of ``Toxic Inhalation Hazards'' or not, and the best
operating statistic (such as car-miles, revenue ton-miles, or revenue
tons of hazardous materials movements) for URCS to use to allocate
specified hazardous material costs to individual movements. In response
to the ANPR, the Board received comments from multiple stakeholders, as
discussed below.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Board received comments from: The American Chemistry
Council, the Chlorine Institute, The Fertilizer Institute, and the
Edison Electric Institute (collectively, ACC); Arkansas Electric
Cooperative Corporation (AECC); the Association of American
Railroads (AAR); BNSF Railway Company (BNSF); Canadian Pacific
Railway Company (CP); Diversified CPC International, Inc.
(Diversified CPC); Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR); Union
Pacific Railroad Company (UP); and the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOT agrees that ``additional data should be reported to [USOA] in
order to identify and quantify these [hazardous material] costs, and
that URCS should attribute these costs to hazmat traffic alone rather
than to the entirety of a carrier's business.'' (DOT Comment 2.)
AAR, BNSF, CP, and UP generally agree with the Board's stated goals
in this proceeding. (AAR Comment 2; BNSF Comment 2, CP Comment 7, 9; UP
Comment 7.) However, they also argue that changes to URCS would not
sufficiently address the railroad industry's concerns with transporting
hazardous material. BNSF and NSR underscore the risk of liability from
a catastrophic accident (BNSF Comment 2; NSR Comment 2-3), while UP
stresses the importance of fairly apportioning risk across all
participants in the supply chain (UP Comment 2). The railroads argue
that, even if the Board were to change URCS, they should also be
allowed to present the unique costs of transporting hazardous materials
in rate proceedings involving hazardous materials. (See AAR Comment 2;
CP Comment 3-4, 9; NSR Comment 3; UP Comment 8-9.)
ACC, AECC, and Diversified CPC argue that the Board should not
limit a review of URCS by any single issue or commodity, but should
instead conduct a broader review of URCS. (ACC Comment 2; AECC Comment
2; Diversified CPC Comment 8.) ACC also argues that the proposed
rulemaking would be arbitrary and ill-advised because, while some
railroads have faced one-time costs from settlements of claims, the
railroads have reported few
[[Page 65988]]
ongoing, quantifiable costs relating solely to hazardous materials
transportation. (ACC Comment 2.)
While the Board appreciates the input it received from the
commenters in this proceeding, it has decided to close this docket.
Although the Board is not foreclosing the possibility of addressing
this issue in the future, even if it were to do so, it would be
initiated as a new proceeding. Thus, we will not move forward with this
proceeding at this time and will discontinue this docket in the
interest of administrative efficiency.
Decided: September 20, 2016.
By the Board, Chairman Elliott, Vice Chairman Miller, and
Commissioner Begeman.
Marline Simeon,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2016-23144 Filed 9-23-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P