Notice2022-04839
Grainbelt Corporation-Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 8, 2022
Issuing agencies
Surface Transportation Board
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13039-13040]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04839]
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 2)]
Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway
Company
Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC), a Class III rail carrier, has filed a
verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) \1\ to extend
the term of the previously amended, local trackage rights on trackage
owned by BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) between approximately milepost
668.73 in Long, Okla., and approximately milepost 723.30 in Quanah,
Tex. (the Line), allowing GNBC to (1) use the Line to access the Plains
Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) facility near BNSF Chickasha
Subdivision milepost 688.6 at Altus, Okla., and (2) operate additional
trains on the Line to accommodate the movement of trains transporting
BNSF customers' railcars (loaded or empty) located along the Line, to
unit train facilities on the Line (collectively, the PCCA Trackage
Rights).\2\ GNBC and BNSF have entered into an amendment to extend the
PCCA Trackage Rights \3\ until March 28, 2023.\4\
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\1\ The pleadings in this docket were originally filed in Docket
No. FD 36580, but given that the trackage rights at issue are the
same as those in Docket No. FD 36486, this proceeding has been
changed to a subdocket of that original proceeding.
\2\ GNBC states that it originally acquired overhead trackage
rights granted by BNSF's predecessor between Snyder Yard at milepost
664.00 and Quanah at milepost 723.30 allowing GNBC to interchange at
Quanah with BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad Company. According to
GNBC, these original trackage rights were supplemented in 2009 to
allow GNBC to operate between Snyder, Okla., and Altus, with the
right to perform limited local service at Long, Okla. See Grainbelt
Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--BNSF Ry. & Stillwater Cent. R.R., FD
35332 (STB served Dec. 17, 2009). The trackage rights were further
amended in 2013 to allow GNBC to provide local grain service to a
shuttle facility in Headrick, Okla., and again in 2014 to allow GNBC
to provide local service to a grain shuttle facility in Eldorado,
Okla. See Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD
35719 (STB served Mar. 15, 2013); Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts.
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 35831 (STB served June 12, 2014). Finally,
in 2021, BNSF and GNBC amended the trackage rights again to include
the PCCA Trackage Rights. See Grainbelt Corp.--Trackage Rts.
Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 36486 (STB served Mar. 12, 2021).
Subsequently, in Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 1), the Board granted
GNBC a petition for partial revocation of the trackage rights
exemption to allow them to expire on March 28, 2022. See Grainbelt
Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 36486 (Sub-No. 1) (STB
served Apr. 20, 2021). GNBC now seeks to extend the term of the PCCA
Trackage Rights for an additional year, to March 28, 2023.
\3\ On February 23,2022, GNBC filed a letter to clarify that the
trackage rights at issue in this proceeding are the PCCA Trackage
Rights.
\4\ GNBC states that its verified notice is related to a
petition for partial revocation filed in Docket No. FD 36580 (Sub-
No. 1), in which GNBC seeks authority to allow the trackage rights
at issue here to expire automatically twelve months after the
effective date of this exemption. GNBC's petition for partial
revocation will be addressed in a separate decision, redocketed in
Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 3).
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The transaction may be consummated on or after March 22, 2022, the
effective date of the exemption.
As a condition to this exemption, any employees affected by the
acquisition of the trackage rights will be protected by the conditions
imposed in Norfolk & Western Railway--Trackage Rights--Burlington
Northern, Inc., 354 I.C.C. 605 (1978), as modified in Mendocino Coast
Railway--Lease & Operate--California Western Railroad, 360 I.C.C. 653
(1980).
If the notice contains false or misleading information, the
exemption is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the exemption under 49
U.S.C. 10502(d) may be filed at any time. The filing of a petition to
revoke will not automatically stay the effectiveness of the exemption.
Petitions for stay must be filed no later than March 15, 2022 (at least
seven days before the exemption becomes effective).
All pleadings, referring to Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 2), should
be filed with the Surface Transportation Board
[[Page 13040]]
via e-filing on the Board's website. In addition, a copy of each
pleading must be served on GNBC's representative, Eric M. Hocky, Clark
Hill PLC, Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Suite 2620,
Philadelphia, PA 19103.
According to GNBC, this action is categorically excluded from
environmental review under 49 CFR 1105.6(c) and from historic
preservation reporting requirements under 49 CFR 1105.8(b).
Board decisions and notices are available at <a href="http://www.stb.gov">www.stb.gov</a>.
Decided: March 2, 2022.
By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting Director, Office of
Proceedings.
Aretha Laws-Byrum,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2022-04839 Filed 3-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P
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