FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
12/03/2003 (Wednesday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 03-48	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

Public & Media Advisory: Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober to Be Keynote Speaker at South Dakota Corn Growers Assoc.'s December 11 Rail Transportation Summit

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) today advised the public and the media that Board Chairman Roger Nober will be the keynote speaker at the Rail Transportation Summit (Summit) sponsored by the South Dakota Corn Growers Association (SDCGA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency on December 11, 2003 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Chairman Nober will speak at the Summit's luncheon on December 11 as part of daylong events to take place at the Sioux Falls Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center, 1211 N. West Avenue, Sioux Falls. Relative to his appearance at the Summit, Chairman Nober said,

"I am honored and pleased that the South Dakota Corn Growers Association has invited me to speak before it and the Association's guests at the Rail Transportation Summit. It is an event to which I am looking forward, and one that I know will be productive for all participants. South Dakota's agriculture and the railroads' transportation of it are vital factors in the Nation's economy."

The Summit will address the impact and importance of rail transit to South Dakota's economy. Summit participants will include representatives from a variety of governmental agencies and railroads, including the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration; the South Dakota Department of Transportation; the South Dakota Railroad Board; The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company; The Dakota & Iowa Railroad Company; and the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation.

For further information about the Summit, please telephone Todd Anawski, the SDCGA's Legislative Director, or Teddi Mueller, SDCGA Communications Director, at (605) 334-0100.

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