FOR RELEASE Contact: Dennis Watson
Tuesday, February 4, 1997 (202) 927-5350
No. 97-8 TDD (202) 927-5721
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
TO HOLD FEBRUARY 13 PUBLIC MEETINGS IN RENO
TO DISCUSS “RENO MITIGATION STUDY”
IN CONNECTION WITH UP-SP MERGER
The Surface Transportation Board (Board) announced today that its Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) will hold two public meetings on Thursday, February 13, 1997, in Reno, Nevada, to obtain public comments and to discuss and answer questions regarding the Reno Mitigation Study. The Board directed the SEA to conduct this environmental mitigation study in its August 1996 decision approving the merger of the Union Pacific (UP) Union Pacific Corporation, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. and Southern Pacific (SP) Southern Pacific Rail Corporation, Southern Pacific Transportation Company, St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, SPCSL, Corp., and The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company. railroads. The purpose of this study is to identify further mitigation to address environmental impacts unique to the City of Reno and Washoe County, NV, from increased rail traffic on the existing UP (formerly SP) right-of-way traversing Reno resulting from the UP-SP merger.
Two public meetings are scheduled for the convenience of citizens in the Reno area. The first meeting will be held from 2:30-4:30 p.m. PST in Room 211, Reno City Hall, 490 South Center Street, in Reno. The second meeting will be held from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the same location. During these meetings, the SEA staff will make brief presentations and answer questions from the public. Both meetings will be immediately preceded by informal “open house” sessions, the first held from 1:30-2:30 p.m., the second held from 6:00-7:00 p.m., during which members of the public may view maps of the study area, and discuss preliminary mitigating options currently under consideration by the SEA.
In conducting the study, the SEA will consider public comment in developing specifically tailored mitigation to address increased UP traffic on the former SP right-of-way in Reno. With public participation, the SEA will prepare both a draft and final Reno Mitigation Study that will contain recommended mitigation options. The Board will consider the final Reno Mitigation Study and its recommendations, as well as the public record. Any specific mitigation adopted by the Board will be in addition to those mitigation measures already imposed as conditions in the Board’s decision approving the merger.
The SEA welcomes public input on possible mitigation options to address further the environmental impacts associated with increased rail traffic resulting from the UP-SP merger. The February 13 public meetings and prior open houses will give citizens of Reno and Washoe County the opportunity to meet, talk with, and pose questions to SEA staff and other members of the SEA’s Reno Mitigation Study Team.
For further information concerning the Reno Mitigation Study or the public meetings, telephone Kay Wilson, Reno Mitigation Study Community Coordinator, at (415) 989-1446, extension 12, or Harold McNulty, Reno Mitigation Study Co-Director, at (202) 927-6217.
The Board directed the SEA to conduct the Reno Mitigation Study as part of the Board’s August 12, 1996 decision granting the UP-SP merger in the case entitled Union Pacific Corporation, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and Missouri Pacific Railroad Company--Control and Merger--Southern Pacific Rail Corporation, Southern Pacific Transportation Company, St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, SPCSL Corp., and The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, Finance Docket No. 32760.
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