FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
08/25/2004 (Wednesday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 04-36
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov
Public & Media Advisory: Surface Transportation Board Provides Schedule of Appearances, Time Allocations for Public & Media Attendance at August 31 Public Hearing on "Small Railroad Abandonments"
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober today provided a schedule of speakers' appearances and their time allocations for the STB's
August 31, 2004
public hearing concerning
Class Exemption for Expedited Abandonment Procedure for Class II and Class III Railroads
, STB Ex Parte No. 647.
The hearing will be held immediately after the conclusion of the STB's voting conference, which begins at
10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 31, 2004, in Room 760
, the STB's hearing room, on the
7th Floor
of the agency's headquarters in the
Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
The STB officially announced the public hearing in STB Ex Parte No. 647 in a
Notice issued to the public on July 22, 2004
. The schedule of speakers' appearances and time allocations as published in the STB's
August 24, 2004 decision in STB Ex Parte No. 647
is attached. That decision is available for viewing and downloading via the agency's Web site at
http://www.stb.dot.gov
.
A printed copy of the Board's decision also is available for a fee by contacting
ASAP Document Solutions, 9332 Annapolis Rd., Suite 103, Lanham, MD 20706, telephone (301) 577-2600
, or via
asapmd@verizon.net.
A fact sheet is attached.
A live broadcast of the hearing will be accessible via the STB's agency's Web site at "
http://www.stb.dot.gov
.
," under "
Information Center
"/"
Webcast
"/"
Live Audio
" on the home page.
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ATTACHMENT
_______________
ATTACHMENT
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD PUBLIC HEARING
Class Exemption for Expedited Abandonment Procedure for Class II and Class III Railroads
,
STB Ex Parte No. 647, August 31, 2004
SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES
Party
/
Speaker / Time Allotted
Petitioners
Speaker: Mark H. Sidman, Weiner, Brodsky, Sidman, Kider P.C. (Note: The Petitioners will open and may reserve part of their time for rebuttal) / 30 minutes
Association of American Railroads
Speaker: Linda J. Morgan, Covington & Burling / 15 minutes
United Transportation Union
Speaker: Daniel R. Elliot, III / 15 minutes
Rail Labor Division of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
Speaker: Mitchell Kraus / 15 minutes
MATTER AT ISSUE
:
The Surface Transportation Board's August 31, 2004 public hearing concerning
Class Exemption for Expedited Abandonment Procedure for Class II and Class III Railroads
, STB Ex Parte No. 647, will provide a forum for the discussion of a petition filed with the STB by a group of 65 short-line and regional railroads ("Petitioners") requesting a rulemaking to amend the agency's current rail-line abandonment regulations.
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