FOR RELEASE
Contact: Janie Sheng (202) 245-0221
03/23/1998 (Monday)
No. 98-17


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD ISSUES SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS, TIME ALLOCATIONS FOR APRIL 2 AND 3 PUBLIC HEARINGS REVIEWING RAIL ACCESS AND COMPETITION ISSUES



FOR RELEASE: Contact: Dennis Watson
Monday, March 23, 1998 (202) 565-1596
No. 98-17 TDD (202) 565-1695
www.stb.dot.gov

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
ISSUES SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS, TIME ALLOCATIONS
FOR APRIL 2 AND 3 PUBLIC HEARINGS REVIEWING
RAIL ACCESS AND COMPETITION ISSUES

Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today that the Board has issued an order (attached) showing the speakers representing the parties that will testify on April 2 and 3, 1998, and the time allotted to each to make oral statements to the Board at the hearing reviewing rail access and competition issues. The Board’s hearing--which is intended to address rail access and competition generally, and not the Board’s ongoing case concerning service problems in the West, or the pending merger in the East--is being conducted in response to a request of Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine.

Chairman Morgan noted that the Board has accommodated all parties that requested speaking time. The schedule provides for approximately 8 hours divided among approximately 60 speakers and the parties they represent under the following 8 categories: Large Railroads, Labor, Shippers, Federal Government, State/Local Government, Ports and Related Interests, Maritime and Related Interests, and Short Line and Regional Railroads. To facilitate the presentations, the Board has established panels of participants.

The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 2, in the Board’s Hearing Room at its offices in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., in Washington. As seating in the Board’s 7th Floor Hearing Room is limited, a second room, the Brick Room on the 1st Floor of the Mercury Building, will be open and linked to the Hearing Room by television monitor. Seating for members of the public in the Hearing Room and the Brick Room will be provided on a “first-come, first-admitted” basis. [STOP]

ATTACHMENT



29049 SERVICE DATE - LATE RELEASE MARCH 20, 1998
SEC
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
DECISION
STB Ex Parte No. 575
REVIEW OF RAIL ACCESS AND COMPETITION ISSUES

Decided: March 20, 1998


A public hearing into rail access and competition issues has been set beginning April 2, 1998, at 10:00 a.m., and ending on April 3, 1998, at the Surface Transportation Board, Hearing Room--Suite 760, 1925 K Street, NW, Washington, DC. By notice served on March 10, 1998, the Board required parties seeking to appear at this hearing to designate, by March 16, 1998, the persons who will speak, the parties they will be representing, and the time requested to speak.

The schedule of appearances and the time provided for parties are set out in the Appendix to this decision. Speakers must file written statements with the Board by March 26, 1998. Given the large number of speakers, in order to complete their testimony within their allotted time, speakers are encouraged to condense their remarks rather than read their written statements.

Participants planning to use visual aids, such as maps, are advised to inform the Office of the Secretary at (202) 565-1650, no later than the close of business on March 27, 1998. Participants are limited to projector adaptable visual displays or handouts. The Board will provide space for handouts for dissemination to the public. The Board staff will be available in the Board’s Hearing Room--Suite 760 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 30, 1998, to demonstrate the Board’s projection system.

It is ordered:

1. Time for oral presentations is allotted in the Appendix to this decision.

2. This decision is effective on its date of service.

By the Board, Vernon A. Williams, Secretary.



Vernon A. Williams
Secretary
APPENDIX
SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES

I. APRIL 2, 1998

Party Time Allotted

Association of American Railroads Panel 20 minutes
Robert D. Krebs (panelists to allot time)
John W. Snow
Karen B. Phillips
Samuel M. Sipe, Jr.

Federal Agencies

U. S. Department of Agriculture 10 minutes
Michael V. Dunn

U.S. Department of Transportation 10 minutes

State and Local Governmental Interests

City of Cleveland, Ohio 10 minutes
Mayor Michael R. White

State of New York 10 minutes
John F. Guinan

California Public Utilities Commission 10 minutes
P. Gregory Conlon

Railroad Commission of Texas 10 minutes
Charles R. Matthews

American Public Transit Association 5 minutes
Daniel Duff

Labor

United Transportation Union 10 minutes
James M. Brunkenhoefer


Ports and Related Interests

Port Authority of Houston 5 minutes
H. Thomas Kornegay

Jacksonville Port Authority 5 minutes
Ron Katims

New York City Economic Development Corporation 5 minutes
Charles Millard

Lower Mississippi River Shippers Coalition 5 minutes
Martin W. Bercovici

Maritime and Related Interests Panel

APL, Ltd., J.B. Hunt Transport, Matson Intermodal System, 15 minutes
and Eastman Kodak Co. (panelists to allot time)
Dan Pendleton (APL, Ltd.)
Paul R. Bergant (J.B. Hunt)
Michael R. Checci (Matson Intermodal)
Linda L. Kelley (Eastman Kodak Co.)

Shipper Associations (General)

Alliance for Rail Competition 20 minutes
Dr. Alfred E. Kahn and Dr. Frederick C. Dunbar
Terry Whiteside

Consumers United for Rail Equity 10 minutes
Chuck Ebetino

National Industrial Transportation League 15 minutes
Edward M. Emmett

Coal Shippers/Utilities (Groups)

Western Coal Traffic League 20 minutes
Mark W. Schwirtz
Marguerite Mills

Edison Electric Institute 15 minutes
Charles Linderman

National Mining Association 8 minutes
Joseph E. Lema

Individual Coal Shippers

City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri 5 minutes
Kenneth McClure

Consumers Energy Company 5 minutes
William E. Garrity

Potomac Electric Power Company 5 minutes
Susann D. Felton

Indianapolis Power & Light Company 5 minutes
David Barnard

Northern States Power Company 5 minutes
Duane L. Richards

Otter Tail Power Company 5 minutes
Nicholas J. DiMichael

Grain Interests

National Grain and Feed Association 15 minutes
David C. Barrett, Jr.

North Dakota Grain Dealers Association 10 minutes
Jerry Janz

Top Dollar Grain Company 5 minutes
Art Smith

HEARING CONTINUED ON APRIL 3, 1998


II. APRIL 3, 1998

Party Time Allotted

Chemical, Fertilizer, Plastics Shipper Groups

Chemical Manufacturers Association 10 minutes
Michael J. Garrigan

Fertilizer Institute 10 minutes
Frederic E. Schrodt

Society of the Plastics Industry 10 minutes
H. Patrick Jack

Chemical Interests (Individual)

Amoco Oil Company, Dow Chemical Co., and 15 minutes
DuPont Chemical Co. (panelists to allot time) Robert L. Theurer (Amoco)
Bill Gebo (Dow)
Hugh L. Fisher (DuPont)

Shell Oil Company and Shell Chemical Company 5 minutes
Brian P. Felker

Aggregates Shippers

CEMEX, USA 5 minutes
Ms. Rose Mary Clyburn
Gary P. Burns

Wyandot Dolomite 5 minutes
Timothy A. Wolfe

National Lime and Stone Company 5 minutes
Ronald W. Kruse


Other Shippers

Fort Orange Paper Company 5 minutes
John P. Hay, Jr.

IBP, Inc. 5 minutes
Perry M. Bourne

Formosa Plastics Corporation 5 minutes
Andrew P. Goldstein

Johnson, James 5 minutes

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
and
Illinois Central Railroad Company

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association 10 minutes
Peter Gilbertson
K. Earl Durden
William Loftus

Illinois Central Railroad Company 10 minutes
Myles L. Tobin

Short Lines and Related Interests

Brownsville Navigation District 5 minutes
Larry E. Cantu

Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi R. Co. 5 minutes
Larry J. Ahlers

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company 5 minutes
Larry R. Parsons

Stark Development Board 5 minutes
Randall C. Hunt

West Virginia Terminals 5 minutes
Peter E. Hubbard


Association of American Railroads Panel 55 minutes
Robert D. Krebs (panelists to allot time)
John W. Snow
Karen B. Phillips
Samuel M. Sipe, Jr.



HEARING ADJOURNED