Illinois Central Railroad Company-Abandonment Exemption-in Hinds County, MS

Federal Register, Volume 83 Issue 65 (Wednesday, April 4, 2018)

Federal Register Volume 83, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 4, 2018)

Notices

Pages 14539-14540

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov

FR Doc No: 2018-06893

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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

Docket No. AB 43 (Sub-No. 188X)

Illinois Central Railroad Company--Abandonment Exemption--in Hinds County, MS

Illinois Central Railroad Company (IC) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to abandon approximately 1.8 miles of rail line extending northward from milepost 185.15 near McNutt Street to milepost 186.95 near High Street in Jackson, Hinds County, Miss. (the Line). The Line traverses United States Postal Zip Codes 39201 and 39202.

IC has certified that: (1) There has been no local rail traffic over the Line for at least two years; (2) there is no overhead traffic on the Line to be rerouted; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of a 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 is either pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S. District Court or had been decided in favor of a complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.11 (transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met.

As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected by the abandonment 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). 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) \1\ has been received, this exemption will be effective on May 3, 2018, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,\2\ formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),\3\ must be filed by April 13, 2018. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by April 23, 2018, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001.\4\

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\1\ The Board modified its OFA procedures effective July 29, 2017. Among other things, the OFA process now requires potential offerors, in their formal expression of intent, to make a preliminary financial responsibility showing based on a calculation using information contained in the carrier's filing and publicly available information. See Offers of Financial Assistance, EP 729 (STB served June 29, 2017); 82 FR 30,997 (July 5, 2017).

\2\ The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. 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.

\3\ Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing fee, which currently is set at $1,800. See Regulations Governing Fees for Servs. Performed in Connection with Licensing & Related Servs.--2017 Update, EP 542 (Sub-No. 25), slip op. App. C at 20 (STB served July 28, 2017).

\4\ IC states that the Line is not suitable for any other public purpose and that it believes much of the Line will be subject to reversionary interests. (Notice 3.)

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A copy of any petition filed with Board should be sent to IC's representative, Bradon J. Smith, Fletcher & Sippel LLC, 29 North Wacker Drive, Suite 920, Chicago, IL 60606.

If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio.

IC has filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by April 6, 2018. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to OEA (Room 1100, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or

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by calling OEA at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service at (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 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), IC shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line.

If consummation has not been effected by IC's filing of a notice of consummation by April 3, 2019, 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 website at www.stb.gov.

Decided: March 28, 2018.

By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of Proceedings.

Marline Simeon,

Clearance Clerk.

FR Doc. 2018-06893 Filed 4-3-18; 8:45 am

BILLING CODE 4915-01-P

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