Notice2022-07699
Decision; 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
April 11, 2022
Issuing agencies
Surface Transportation Board
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 69 (Monday, April 11, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 69 (Monday, April 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21257-21258]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07699]
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
[Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 3)]
Decision; Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF
Railway Company
By petition filed on February 11, 2022,\1\ Grainbelt Corporation
(GNBC) requests that the Board partially revoke the trackage rights
exemption granted to it under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) in Docket No. FD
36486 (Sub-No. 2), as necessary to permit that trackage rights
arrangement to expire on March 28, 2023. GNBC filed its verified notice
of exemption on February 11, 2022, and simultaneously filed its
petition for partial revocation. Notice of the exemption was served and
published in the Federal Register (87 FR 13,039) on March 8, 2022, and
the exemption became effective on March 22, 2022.
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\1\ The pleadings in this docket were originally filed in Docket
No. FD 36580 (Sub-No. 1), 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.
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As explained by GNBC in its verified notice of exemption in Docket
No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 2), GNBC and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) have
entered into an amendment to extend the term of the previously amended,
local trackage rights on trackage owned by 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). (GNBC Verified Notice of Exemption 1-3, Grainbelt
Corp.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--BNSF Ry., FD 36486 (Sub-No. 2).)
GNBC explains that the trackage rights covered by the verified
notice in Docket No. FD 36486 (Sub-No. 2) are local rather than
overhead rights and therefore they do not qualify for the Board's class
exemption for temporary trackage rights under 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(8).
(GNBC Pet. 4.) GNBC therefore filed its verified notice of exemption
under the Board's class exemption procedures at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) and
a petition for partial revocation of the exemption as necessary to
permit the PCCA Trackage Rights to expire on March 28, 2023, pursuant
to the parties' agreement. (GNBC Pet 3.) GNBC argues that the requested
relief will promote the rail transportation policy and is limited in
scope. (Id. at 4-5.) GNBC also asserts that the Board has routinely
granted similar petitions to allow trackage rights to expire on a
negotiated date. (Id. at 5.)
Discussion and Conclusions
Although GNBC and BNSF have expressly agreed on the duration of the
proposed trackage rights, trackage rights approved under the class
exemption at 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7) typically remain effective
indefinitely, regardless of any contract provisions. At times, however,
the Board has partially revoked a trackage rights exemption to allow
those rights to expire after a limited time rather than lasting in
perpetuity. See, e.g., BNSF Ry.--Trackage Rts.
[[Page 21258]]
Exemption--Union Pac. R.R., FD 36377 (Sub-No. 3) (STB served Feb. 23,
2021); BNSF Ry.--Trackage Rts. Exemption--Union Pac. R.R., FD 36377
(Sub-No. 1) (STB served Mar. 11, 2020); New Orleans Pub. Belt R.R.--
Trackage Rts. Exemption--Ill. Cent. R.R., FD 36198 (Sub-No. 1) (STB
served June 20, 2018).
Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the Board may exempt a person, class of
persons, or a transaction or service, in whole or in part, when the
Board finds that: (1) Continued regulation is not necessary to carry
out the rail transportation policy of 49 U.S.C. 10101; and (2) either
the transaction or service is of limited scope, or regulation is not
necessary to protect shippers from the abuse of market power.
Granting partial revocation in these circumstances to permit the
trackage rights to expire would eliminate the need for GNBC to file a
second pleading seeking discontinuance when the agreement expires,
thereby promoting the rail transportation policy at 49 U.S.C. 10101(2),
(7), and (15). Moreover, partially revoking the exemption to limit the
term of the trackage rights is consistent with the limited scope of the
transaction previously exempted.\2\ Therefore, the Board will grant the
petition and permit the trackage rights exempted in Docket No. FD 36486
(Sub-No. 2) to expire on March 28, 2023.
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\2\ Because the proposed transaction is of limited scope, the
Board need not make a market power finding. See 49 U.S.C. 10502(a).
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To provide the statutorily mandated protection to any employee
adversely affected by the discontinuance of trackage rights, the Board
will impose the employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon
Short Line Railroad--Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth &
Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).
This action is categorically excluded from environmental review
under 49 CFR 1105.6(c).
It is ordered:
1. The petition for partial revocation of the trackage rights class
exemption is granted.
2. As discussed above, the trackage rights in Docket No. FD 36486
(Sub-No. 2) are permitted to expire on March 28, 2023, subject to the
employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon Short Line Railroad,
360 I.C.C. 91.
3. Notice of this decision will be published in the Federal
Register.
4. This decision is effective on May 6, 2022. Petitions to stay
must be filed by April 18, 2022. Petitions for reconsideration must be
filed by April 26, 2022.
Decided: April 5, 2022.
By the Board, Board Members Fuchs, Hedlund, Oberman, Primus, and
Schultz.
Kenyatta Clay,
Clearance Clerk.
[FR Doc. 2022-07699 Filed 4-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4915-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 11, 2022.
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