FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
07/03/2001 (Tuesday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 01-30
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov


Surface Transportation Board Announces Availability of "Environmental" Information on Its Website


The Surface Transportation Board (Board) today announced the addition of a new "environmental" feature to the agency's website, just the latest of many enhancements recently made to the extensive amount of electronic information already available to the public through the Board's website.



Starting with June 20, 2001, users of the Board's site, at http://www.stb.dot.gov, may obtain important environmental information. This includes information on agency rules implementing federal environmental law in the area of transportation; significant transportation cases before the Board involving environmental issues; a glossary of transportation and environmental terms; third-party contracting information relative to the preparation of environmental documentation; and a useful list of websites for other agencies involved in environmental matters.



Access to this environmental information is easy via http://www.stb.dot.gov . At the appearance of the home page, click the "Economics & Environment" button. When the next electronic page appears, beneath the "Environmental Issues" heading at the upper right, click the item marked "All Environmental On-Line Services." The next page to appear will display the "SEA" acronym (denoting the Board's "Section of Environmental Analysis," the sponsor of and office that will continually update the site's environmental information), and several introductory paragraphs. On that same page, there are a number of topical buttons that users may click to obtain additional information.



In addition to environmental information available via the Board's website, users may continue to access:

• A database containing all Board decisions issued on or after November 1, 1996;

• News releases summarizing major Board decisions, and a registration feature for the e-mail receipt of releases, free of charge, upon issuance;

• Testimony before Congress and as appropriate officials' statements coincident with presentation and delivery;

• Railroad industry statistical information;

• Rail-equipment lien, or "recordation," information;

• Rail Consumer Assistance Program information;

• Various Board reports and publications, including "Surface Transportation Board Reports" (the electronic version of bound printed volumes of the Board's major decisions, updated annually); and

• Information on the Board's staff and functions, among many other items.



Since inauguration of the Board's website in November 1997, the agency has registered nearly 3,000 subscribers for the e-mail receipt of its news releases, and notes that the number of user "hits" continues to grow: on an average day, visitors to the site generate 53,000 information requests. The Board will continue to advise the public of the agency's efforts to increase the availability of electronic information and to make its website even more "user friendly."



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