FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
07/14/2004 (Wednesday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 04-28
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 July 21 Public Hearing Concerning Rail Rate Challenges in Small Cases


Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober today provided a schedule of speakers' appearances and their time allocations for the STB's July 21, 2004 public hearing concerning Rail Rate Challenges in Small Cases, in STB Ex Parte No. 646.


The STB will hold the hearing at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, in Room 760, the agency'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 schedule of speakers' appearances and time allocations, as published in an STB order issued to the public today in STB Ex Parte No. 646, is attached. The agency issued its Notice of Public Hearing concerning STB Ex Parte No. 646 on June 29, 2004. Both decisions are available for viewing and downloading via the agency's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov. Printed copies of the STB's decisions also are 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.


ATTACHMENT
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Attachment

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD PUBLIC HEARING
Rail Rate Challenges in Small Cases, STB Ex Parte No. 646
July 21, 2004


SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES

Party [/] Time Allotted [/] Speaker


Panel I / 5 minutes
United States Department of Transportation

Speaker: Paul Samuel Smith, Senior Trial Attorney,
U.S. Department of Transportation


Panel II / 20 minutes
Association of American Railroads

Speakers: Edward R. Hamberger, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads; Larry R. Parsons, Chairman and CEO, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company; William J. Rennicke, Vice President, Mercer Management Consulting, Inc.; Craig F. Rockey, Vice President, Policy and Economics, Association of American Railroads; Louis P. Warchot, Senior Vice President-Law and General Counsel, Association of American Railroads


Panel III / 20 minutes
American Chemistry Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, The Fertilizer Institute, Idaho Barley Commission, Idaho Wheat Commission, Kansas Wheat Commission, Montana Wheat & Barley Committee, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Association National Corn Growers Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, National Grain and Feed Association, National Grain Sorghum Producers, National Industrial Transportation League, North Dakota Grain Dealers Association, North Dakota Public Service Commission, North Dakota Wheat Commission, South Dakota Wheat Commission, Texas Wheat Producers Board, Washington Barley Commission, Washington Wheat Commission, Alliance for Rail Competition, and Consumers United for Rail Equity

Speaker: Nicholas J. DiMichael


Panel IV / 10 minutes
John D. Fitzgerald, General Chairman for the United Transportation Union (GO 386), on lines of The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company

Speaker: Gordon P. MacDougall / 5 minutes

Snavely King Majoros O'Connor & Lee, Inc. / 5 minutes

Speaker: Tom O'Connor


MATTER AT ISSUE:

The Surface Transportation Board's July 21, 2004 public hearing concerning Rail Rate Challenges in Small Cases, in STB Ex Parte No. 646, will provide a forum for the oral discussion of any proposals for handling small cases involving challenges to the reasonableness of rates charged by a railroad. It will also provide an opportunity for participants to share with the STB their respective views on how "small rate cases" should be defined or identified.



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