Department of Transportation October 16, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On February 24, 2015, Applicants, Lone Star Railroad, Inc. (LSR) and Southern Switching Company (SSC), filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) pursuant to 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) 10502 and 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1121.1. The Board's Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) is responsible for ensuring the Board's compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. Applicants seek Board authority for LSR to construct and SSC to operate approximately 3.18 miles of rail line that would connect to an existing Union Pacific Railroad Company mainline and provide rail service to an industrial park property near Big Spring, in Howard County, Texas. The primary purpose for the proposed action is the efficient delivery of frac sand by rail to the industrial park property, where it would be transloaded to trucks for delivery to crude oil wellhead locations in the Permian Basin. Applicants anticipate that the proposed rail line would support an average of five trains per week. Today, OEA has issued the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA), which is available on the Board's Web site, ww.stb.dot.gov, by clicking ``Decisions'' under ``Quick Links,'' and locating the document under the service date of 10/16/2015. The Draft EA identifies the natural and man-made resources in the area of the proposed rail line and analyzes the potential impacts of the proposal on these resources. Based on the information provided from all sources to date and its independent analysis, OEA preliminarily concludes that construction of the proposed rail line would have no significant environmental impacts if the Board imposes and Applicants implement the recommended mitigation measures set forth in the Draft EA.

As authorized by 46 U.S.C. 12121, the Secretary of Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirement of the coastwise laws under certain circumstances. A request for such a waiver has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a brief description of the proposed service, is listed below.

This action s establishes Class E airspace at Marshall, AR. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures at Searcy County Airport. This action enhances the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action modifies Class D airspace, Class E surface area airspace, Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface, and removes Class E surface area airspace designated as an extension at Mountain Home AFB, Mountain Home, ID. The FAA found it necessary to amend the airspace area by increasing the Class D airspace and reducing the Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface for the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations for arriving and departing aircraft at the airport and to change from navigation aids to geographic coordinate references in the legal description. This action updates the geographic coordinates of Mountain Home Municipal Airport, Mountain Home, ID.

This action establishes Class E Airspace at Newport, NH, to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) serving Parlin Field Airport. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announce: (1) The schedule and locations of public hearings; and (2) the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Liberty Natural Gas LLC, Port Ambrose Liquefied Natural Gas Deepwater Port license application for the importation of natural gas. The Port Ambrose application describes an offshore natural gas deepwater port facility that would be located 16.1 nautical miles southeast of Jones Beach, New York, 24.9 nautical miles east of Long Branch, New Jersey, and 27.1 nautical miles from the entrance to New York Harbor in a water depth of approximately 103 feet. The FEIS complies with the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended (33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) (DWPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), as implemented by the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR 1500 to 1508). MARAD and the USCG request public comments on the FEIS and the application. Publication of this notice begins a 45-day comment period, requests public participation in the process, provides information on how to participate in the process and announces informational open houses and public hearings in New York and New Jersey. Pursuant to the criteria provided in the DWPA, both New Jersey and New York have been designated as Adjacent Coastal States (ACS) for this application. Please note that this application is only for the construction and operation of a deepwater port that could only be used as a natural gas import facility. The considerable technical, operational and environmental differences between import and export operations for natural gas deepwater ports is such that any licensed deepwater port facility that proposed to convert from import to export operations would be required to submit a new license application (including application fee) and conform to all licensing requirements and regulations in effect at such time of application. In addition to payment of the application fee, licensing requirements include, but are not limited to, completion of an extensive environmental impact assessment which would include public participation and a financial responsibility review which would include public participation.

This rule amends, suspends, or removes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.