News Release - 10-07STB TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING IN MAINE ON MMA ABANDONMENT


FOR RELEASE		Contact: Janie Sheng (202) 245-0221
03/12/2010 (Friday)		Eric Weiss
No. 10-07		FedRelay 1 (800) 877-8339

		www.stb.gov


STB TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING IN MAINE ON MMA ABANDONMENT

The federal Surface Transportation Board today announced it will hold a public hearing this spring in Maine on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's application to abandon 233 miles of rail line in Aroostook and Penobscot counties. The STB decided to hold a public hearing in Maine to allow citizens and stakeholders to provide testimony on the effect of the proposed abandonment. The hearing will be scheduled after the April 26 deadline for the written record but before the end of May. The Board will announce details on the exact time and place for the hearing in the near future. "This proposed abandonment would affect many shippers and the local and regional economy and it is important that the Board hears from as many voices as possible," said STB Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. "The best way to do that is for Washington to go to Maine instead of Maine coming to Washington." The state of Maine officially requested a public hearing on March 4. Shippers and elected representatives from Maine, including U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins and Rep. Michael H. Michaud, as well as James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, echoed the call for a public hearing. The full decision announcing the intention to hold a public hearing in Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd—Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment—in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, ME, STB Docket No. AB-1043 (Sub-No. 1) is available at www.stb.dot.gov.