The Blacklands Railroad-Discontinuance of Service Exemption-in Hunt, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin and Titus Counties, Tex., 62561-62562 [2019-24828]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 221 / Friday, November 15, 2019 / Notices SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION For more information, please visit our website at: https://www.ssa.gov/ndf/. [Docket No. SSA 2019–0048] Mark Warshawsky, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy. National Disability Forum AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA). [FR Doc. 2019–24833 Filed 11–14–19; 8:45 am] SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD [Docket No. AB 1108 (Sub-No. 1X)] The Blacklands Railroad— Discontinuance of Service Exemption—in Hunt, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin and Titus Counties, Tex. BILLING CODE P Announcement of a National Disability Forum. ACTION: We are announcing the fourteenth National Disability Forum. The purpose of this public forum is to obtain feedback from experts in their field on what impairments have a likelihood to improve. This forum will be moderated, and include up to five panelists presenting information on the topic. Additionally, there will be a combined question and answer session during which the panelists will address questions from those on site and received by email during the forum. SUMMARY: Tuesday December 3, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. DATES: Meeting Location: Partnership for Public Service, 1100 New York Ave NW, Suite 200 East, Washington, DC 20005. Accommodations: Sign language interpreters, microphones, and materials in Braille, large print, and electronic formats will be available. The facility is wheelchair accessible. Anyone needing other accommodations should include a specific request when registering in advance.at: https://www.ssa.gov/ndf/. ADDRESSES: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Edrington, NDF Team Lead, Office of Medical Assistance, Social Security Administration, 4539 Annex, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235–6401, Telephone: (410) 966– 2153, or send The National Disability Forum is an open forum hosted by Social Security that gives all interested stakeholders an opportunity to share their unique insights on topics of particular interest to SSA early in the rulemaking process. The activities under the National Disability Forum supplement, but do not replace, the rule-making process followed by SSA under the Administrative Procedure Act. These Forums serve as listening sessions, and bring public awareness to disability and retirement policy among stakeholders. Through these forums, we gain insight into how our policy affects the disability and retirement communities we serve, and the potential impact our policies may have in the future. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VerDate Sep<11>2014 62561 16:58 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 250001 DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice:10942] Notice of Determinations; Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition—Determinations: ‘‘Malangatana: Mozambique Modern’’ Exhibition Notice is hereby given of the following determinations: I hereby determine that certain objects to be exhibited in the exhibition ‘‘Malangatana: Mozambique Modern,’’ imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural significance. The objects are imported pursuant to loan agreements with the foreign owners or custodians. I also determine that the exhibition or display of the exhibit objects at The Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois, from on or about March 22, 2020, until on or about July 5, 2020, and at possible additional exhibitions or venues yet to be determined, is in the national interest. I have ordered that Public Notice of these determinations be published in the Federal Register. SUMMARY: Chi D. Tran, Paralegal Specialist, Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State (telephone: 202–632–6471; email: section2459@state.gov). The mailing address is U.S. Department of State, L/ PD, SA–5, Suite 5H03, Washington, DC 20522–0505. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The foregoing determinations were made pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), Executive Order 12047 of March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority No. 234 of October 1, 1999, and Delegation of Authority No. 236–3 of August 28, 2000. On October 28, 2019, The Blacklands Railroad (BLR) filed a petition under 49 U.S.C. 10502 for exemption from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 10903 to discontinue its operations over approximately 76 miles of rail line (the Line) in Hunt, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin, and Titus Counties, Tex.1 In particular, BLR seeks authority to discontinue its operating rights over: (1) Approximately 31 miles of a line of railroad owned by the Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District (NETEX) from milepost 524.0, located 6.2 miles west of Sulphur Springs, to milepost 555.0, near Greenville (also known as Simtrott); (2) an additional 34.59 miles of NETEX’s line, from milepost 524.0 to milepost 489.41, at the eastern county line of Franklin County; and (3) trackage rights acquired by NETEX over a Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) line, from milepost 489.41 to milepost 479.0 at Mt. Pleasant where BLR interchanges traffic with UP.2 The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 75455, 75493, 75457, 75478, 75482, 75401, 75433, 75428, and 75402. According to BLR, its operations over the Line have resulted in significant financial losses over the last four years and there is no reasonable basis to believe profitability will improve in the near future. In addition, BLR states that, upon discontinuance, no customer on the Line will be left without common carrier service because NETEX is itself a Class III rail carrier on the Line.3 BLR states that it believes the Line does not contain any federally granted rights-of-way. BLR states that any documentation in its possession will be made available to those requesting it. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Marie Therese Porter Royce, Assistant Secretary, Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State. [FR Doc. 2019–24761 Filed 11–14–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4710–05–P PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 1 BLR initially submitted its petition on October 25, 2019. In light of a supplement filed on October 28, 2019, that date is deemed the filing date of the petition for exemption. 2 BLR states that it also leases directly from UP the segment between milepost 489.40 and milepost 481.5, and that these leased operations from UP are not the subject of the discontinuance authority sought in this proceeding. See Blacklands R.R.— Lease & Operation Exemption—Union Pac. R.R., FD 34723 (STB served July 26, 2005). 3 BLR states that NETEX sought and received authority to acquire and operate the Line as a common carrier in Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District—Purchase (Portion) Exemption—St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, FD 32841 (STB served Jan. 26, 1996) and Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District—Acquisition Exemption—Lines of Union Pacific Railroad Company, FD 33892 (STB served Jul. 26, 2000). E:\FR\FM\15NON1.SGM 15NON1 62562 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 221 / Friday, November 15, 2019 / Notices As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected by the discontinuance of service shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad—Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & 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 by February 14, 2020. Because this is a discontinuance proceeding and not an abandonment proceeding, trail use/rail banking and public use conditions are not appropriate. Because there will be environmental review during any subsequent abandonment, this discontinuance does not require an environmental review. See 49 CFR 1105.6(c)(5), 1105.8(b). Any offer of financial assistance (OFA) for subsidy under 49 CFR 1152.27(b)(2) will be due no later than 120 days after the filing of the petition for exemption, or 10 days after service of a decision granting the petition for exemption, whichever occurs sooner.4 Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a formal expression of intent to file an offer by November 25, 2019, indicating the intent to file an OFA for subsidy and demonstrating that they are preliminarily financially responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(1)(i). All filings in response to this notice must refer to Docket No. AB 1108 (SubNo. 1X) and must be filed with the Surface Transportation Board either via e-filing or in writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423–0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading must be served on BLR’s representative, Thomas J. Litwiler, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606. Replies to this petition are due on or before December 5, 2019. Persons seeking further information concerning discontinuance procedures may contact the Board’s Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance at (202) 245–0238 or refer to the full abandonment and discontinuance regulations at 49 CFR part 1152. Questions concerning environmental issues may be directed to the Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis at (202) 245–0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877–8339. Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov. 4 The filing fee for OFAs can be found at 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25). VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:58 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 250001 Decided: November 12, 2019. By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Director, Office of Proceedings. Brendetta Jones, Clearance Clerk. [FR Doc. 2019–24828 Filed 11–14–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY Environmental Impact Statement for Johnsonville Fossil Plant Ash Impoundment Closure Tennessee Valley Authority. Notice of intent. AGENCY: ACTION: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to address the potential environmental effects associated with the future management of coal combustion residuals (CCR) material at the Johnsonville Fossil Plant (JOF) located in Humphreys County, Tennessee. The purpose of this EIS is to address the disposition of Ash Pond 2 at JOF, to support the implementation of TVA’s goal to eliminate all wet CCR storage at its coal plants by closing CCR surface impoundments across the TVA system, and to assist TVA in complying with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CCR Rule and other applicable federal and state statutes and regulations. TVA will evaluate the closure of JOF Ash Pond 2 and will develop and evaluate various alternatives for closure including the No Action Alternative. One alternative identified by TVA is Closure-in-Place of Ash Pond 2. Another alternative is Closure-by-Removal of Ash Pond 2. TVA is considering four options for disposal of the CCR removed from Ash Pond 2, including transport and disposal of CCR in an existing offsite permitted landfill, transport and disposal of CCR to a new onsite landfill, transport and disposal of CCR to both an existing offsite permitted landfill and a new onsite landfill, and transport of CCR to a beneficial re-use processing facility to be processed for use in concrete and other building materials with any unusable CCR and excavated soil material going to an existing offsite or new onsite permitted landfill. TVA has identified a potential location for a new onsite landfill. TVA has not selected a potential offsite landfill for disposal of CCR from JOF, and no specific provider of the beneficiation services or specific site at which a beneficial re-use processing facility would be constructed has been developed at this time. Therefore, SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 impacts of these options for CCR disposal would be based on the most impactful or ‘‘bounding’’ characteristics of CCR transport to suitable existing landfills or to a beneficial re-use processing facility. Similarly, the potential effects of construction and operation of the beneficial re-use processing facility will be evaluated using ‘bounding’’ attributes obtained from candidate beneficiation vendors. Public comments are invited concerning both the scope of the review and environmental issues that should be addressed. No decisions have been made about the final disposition of CCR storage at COF Ash Pond 2. DATES: Comments on the scope of the EIS must be received on or before December 20, 2019. ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to W. Douglas White, NEPA Compliance Specialist, 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, WT 11B–K, Knoxville, TN 37902. Comments also may be submitted online at: https:// www.tva.gov/nepa or by email to wdwhite0@tva.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Other related questions should be sent to W. Douglas White, NEPA Compliance Specialist, Tennessee Valley Authority, at 865–632–2252 or wdwhite0@tva.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 to 1508) and TVA’s procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations (36 CFR part 800). TVA Power System and CCR Management TVA is a corporate agency and instrumentality of the United States created by and existing pursuant to the TVA Act of 1933 that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors. TVA serves more than 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. JOF had ten coal-fired generating units that had a combined capacity of 1,254 megawatts. Units 5 through 10 ceased power generation in 2012 and E:\FR\FM\15NON1.SGM 15NON1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 221 (Friday, November 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62561-62562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24828]


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. AB 1108 (Sub-No. 1X)]


The Blacklands Railroad--Discontinuance of Service Exemption--in 
Hunt, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin and Titus Counties, Tex.

    On October 28, 2019, The Blacklands Railroad (BLR) filed a petition 
under 49 U.S.C. 10502 for exemption from the prior approval 
requirements of 49 U.S.C. 10903 to discontinue its operations over 
approximately 76 miles of rail line (the Line) in Hunt, Delta, Hopkins, 
Franklin, and Titus Counties, Tex.\1\ In particular, BLR seeks 
authority to discontinue its operating rights over: (1) Approximately 
31 miles of a line of railroad owned by the Northeast Texas Rural Rail 
Transportation District (NETEX) from milepost 524.0, located 6.2 miles 
west of Sulphur Springs, to milepost 555.0, near Greenville (also known 
as Simtrott); (2) an additional 34.59 miles of NETEX's line, from 
milepost 524.0 to milepost 489.41, at the eastern county line of 
Franklin County; and (3) trackage rights acquired by NETEX over a Union 
Pacific Railroad Company (UP) line, from milepost 489.41 to milepost 
479.0 at Mt. Pleasant where BLR interchanges traffic with UP.\2\ The 
Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 75455, 75493, 75457, 
75478, 75482, 75401, 75433, 75428, and 75402.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ BLR initially submitted its petition on October 25, 2019. In 
light of a supplement filed on October 28, 2019, that date is deemed 
the filing date of the petition for exemption.
    \2\ BLR states that it also leases directly from UP the segment 
between milepost 489.40 and milepost 481.5, and that these leased 
operations from UP are not the subject of the discontinuance 
authority sought in this proceeding. See Blacklands R.R.--Lease & 
Operation Exemption--Union Pac. R.R., FD 34723 (STB served July 26, 
2005).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    According to BLR, its operations over the Line have resulted in 
significant financial losses over the last four years and there is no 
reasonable basis to believe profitability will improve in the near 
future. In addition, BLR states that, upon discontinuance, no customer 
on the Line will be left without common carrier service because NETEX 
is itself a Class III rail carrier on the Line.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ BLR states that NETEX sought and received authority to 
acquire and operate the Line as a common carrier in Northeast Texas 
Rural Rail Transportation District--Purchase (Portion) Exemption--
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, FD 32841 (STB served Jan. 
26, 1996) and Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District--
Acquisition Exemption--Lines of Union Pacific Railroad Company, FD 
33892 (STB served Jul. 26, 2000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    BLR states that it believes the Line does not contain any federally 
granted rights-of-way. BLR states that any documentation in its 
possession will be made available to those requesting it.

[[Page 62562]]

    As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected 
by the discontinuance of service shall be protected under Oregon Short 
Line Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, 
in Bingham & 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 by February 14, 2020.
    Because this is a discontinuance proceeding and not an abandonment 
proceeding, trail use/rail banking and public use conditions are not 
appropriate. Because there will be environmental review during any 
subsequent abandonment, this discontinuance does not require an 
environmental review. See 49 CFR 1105.6(c)(5), 1105.8(b).
    Any offer of financial assistance (OFA) for subsidy under 49 CFR 
1152.27(b)(2) will be due no later than 120 days after the filing of 
the petition for exemption, or 10 days after service of a decision 
granting the petition for exemption, whichever occurs sooner.\4\ 
Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a formal 
expression of intent to file an offer by November 25, 2019, indicating 
the intent to file an OFA for subsidy and demonstrating that they are 
preliminarily financially responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(1)(i).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ The filing fee for OFAs can be found at 49 CFR 
1002.2(f)(25).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    All filings in response to this notice must refer to Docket No. AB 
1108 (Sub-No. 1X) and must be filed with the Surface Transportation 
Board either via e-filing or in writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20423-0001. In addition, a copy of each pleading must be 
served on BLR's representative, Thomas J. Litwiler, Fletcher & Sippel 
LLC, 29 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606. Replies to this 
petition are due on or before December 5, 2019.
    Persons seeking further information concerning discontinuance 
procedures may contact the Board's Office of Public Assistance, 
Governmental Affairs, and Compliance at (202) 245-0238 or refer to the 
full abandonment and discontinuance regulations at 49 CFR part 1152. 
Questions concerning environmental issues may be directed to the 
Board's Office of Environmental Analysis at (202) 245-0305. Assistance 
for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Relay Service 
at (800) 877-8339.
    Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.

    Decided: November 12, 2019.

    By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Director, Office of Proceedings.
Brendetta Jones,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2019-24828 Filed 11-14-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4915-01-P
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