Louisiana & Delta Railroad, Inc.Abandonment Exemptionin Terrebonne Parish, LA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB-318 (Sub-No. 3X)]

Louisiana & Delta Railroad, Inc.--Abandonment Exemption--in

Terrebonne Parish, LA

Louisiana & Delta Railroad, Inc. (L&D) has filed notice of

exemption under 49 CFR 1152 Subpart F--Exempt Abandonments to abandon

1.8 miles of its line of railroad known as the Houma Branch between

milepost 0.20 to milepost 2.0, in Terrebonne Parish, LA.1

The line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 70395.

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\1\ Pursuant to 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(2), the railroad must file a

verified notice with the Board at least 50 days before the

abandonment or discontinuance is to be consummated. The applicant in

its verified notice, indicated a proposed consummation date of June

26, 1997. However, because the verified notice was filed on May 8,

1997, consummation should have not been proposed to take place prior

to June 27, 1997. Applicant's representative has been contacted and

has confirmed that the correct consummation date is on or after June

27, 1997.

The Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government (TPCG) filed a

request for issuance of a notice of interim trail use (NITU) for the

line pursuant to section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, 16

U.S.C. 1247(d). The Board will address TPCG's trail use request, and

any others that may be filed, in a subsequent decision.

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L&D has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the

line for at least 2 years; (2) there is no overhead traffic moving over

the line; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of 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 either is

pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S.

District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the

2-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7 (environmental

reports), 49 CFR 1105.8 (historic reports), 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 shall be protected under Oregon Short Line R. Co.--

Abandonment--Goshen, 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) has been received, this exemption will be

effective on June 27, 1997, 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 and trail use/rail banking requests under 49

CFR 1152.29 4 must be filed by June 9, 1997. Petitions to

reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must

be filed by June 17, 1997, with: Surface Transportation Board, Office

of the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington,

DC 20423.

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\2\ The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on

environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's

Section of Environmental Analysis in its independent investigation)

cannot be made before the exemption's effective date. See Exemption

of Out-of-Service 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 offer of financial assistance must be accompanied by

the filing fee, which currently is set at $900. See 49 CFR

1002.2(f)(25).

\4\ The Board will accept late-filed trail use requests as long

as the abandonment has not been consummated and the abandoning

railroad is willing to negotiate an agreement.

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A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to

applicant's representative: Sebastian Ferrer, Esquire, Gollatz, Griffin

& Ewing, P.C., 213 W. Miner Street, P. O. Box 796, West Chester, PA

19381-0796.

If the verified notice contains false or misleading information,

the exemption is void ab initio.

L&D has filed an environmental report which addresses the

abandonment's effects, if any, on the environment and historic

resources. The Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) will issue an

environmental assessment (EA) by June 2, 1997. Interested persons may

obtain a copy of the EA by writing to SEA (Room 500, Surface

Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423) or by calling SEA, at (202)

565-1545. 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 the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), L&D 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 L&D's filing of a notice of

consummation by May 28, 1998, and there are no legal or regulatory

barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically

expire.

Decided: May 21, 1997.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik, Director, Office of

Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97-13934 Filed 5-27-97; 8:45 am]

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