Surface Transportation Board 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board finds that the second quarter 2019 RCAF (Unadjusted) is 1.065, RCAF (Adjusted) is 0.451, and RCAF-5 is 0.422. Comments on the inclusion of the recalculated figures in the RCAF may be submitted by April 18, 2019.

The Surface Transportation Board published a document in the Federal Register of March 6, 2016, giving notice of one vacancy on its Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee and soliciting suggestions from the public for candidates to fill the vacancy. The published document contained an incorrect description of the vacancy.

The Board hereby gives notice of an upcoming vacancy on RSTAC for a small shipper representative. The Board seeks suggestions for candidates to fill this vacancy.

In a decision served on March 11, 2019, the Board proposed to adopt 1.005 (0.5% per year) as the measure of average (geometric mean) change in railroad productivity for the 2013-2017 (five-year) period. This represents an increase of 0.9% from the average for the 2012-2016 period. The Board's March 11, 2019 decision in this proceeding stated that comments may be filed addressing any perceived data and computational errors in the Board's calculation. The decision also stated that unless a further order is issued postponing the effective date, this decision is effective on March 29, 2019.

The Surface Transportation Board's (Board's) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) has prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) in response to a petition for exemption filed on November 21, 2018 by Texas Railway Exchange LLC (TREX) to construct and operate an approximately 2,800-foot line of railroad in the City of Galveston, Galveston County, Texas. The proposed rail line would connect the Texas International Terminals facility (the Terminal) on Galveston Bay with an existing line of railroad operated by BNSF Railway Company by crossing an existing Union Pacific Railroad rail line. The proposed rail line would offer a new alternative rail transportation option for rail traffic entering and leaving the Terminal. The Draft EA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of two alternative rail alignments, as well as the No-Action Alternative and preliminarily concludes that construction of the proposed rail line connection would have no significant environmental impacts if the Board imposes and TREX implements the recommended mitigation measures set forth in the Draft EA. The entire Draft EA is available on the Board's website (www.stb.dot.gov) by clicking on the ``Decisions & Notices'' button that appears in the drop down menu for ``ELIBRARY,'' and searching by Service Date (February 22, 2019) or Docket Number (FD 36186).

The Board is instituting a proceeding to determine the railroad industry's cost of capital for 2018. The decision solicits comments on the following issues: The railroads' 2018 current cost of debt capital; the railroads' 2018 current cost of preferred equity capital (if any); the railroads' 2018 cost of common equity capital; and the 2018 capital structure mix of the railroad industry on a market value basis. Comments should focus on the various cost-of-capital components listed above using the same methodology followed in Railroad Cost of Capital2017, EP 558 (Sub-No. 21) (STB served Dec. 6, 2018).

The Board provides notice that any material due to be submitted to the Board during the partial Federal government shutdown period (including comments on environmental documents) will now be due no later than February 4, 2019, unless otherwise ordered by the Board. Further, filings (including recordations) that were submitted during the shutdown will be considered filed on January 28, 2019, provided all filing requirements have been met.