The board said it based its decision on three policy considerations justifying relatively low complaint-filing fees. The filing
of a complaint is often the Board’s only mechanism for investigating and addressing potential rate violations or other unlawful practices. High fees for the filing of formal complaints may discourage shippers and others from bringing complaints before the Board.

The changes to the board’s regulations reducing such fees should improve the agency’s management of its docket and resources.

Today’s action follows the Board’s February 15, 2011 notice of proposed rulemaking in which the agency proposed reducing some fees. At that time, Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III said “charging a small business more than $20,000 to bring a complaint is not right,” and expressed concern that that the some meritorious cases may not have been filed with the agency because of high filing fees.

While Chairman Elliott said he believes the new fee structure will make it easier for shippers to file formal cases with the
Board, he invites them first to avail themselves of the free, informal mediation service offered through the agency’s Rail Customer and Public Assistance Program. He added that the agency also offers a successful program of formal mediation.

Begeman has served as a senior aide on Capitol Hill for 21 years, playing a key role in the crafting of major transportation legislation, including the ICC Termination Act, which created the STB.

Immediately prior to joining the Board, Ms. Begeman served as Republican Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She has also served as Acting Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for Sen. John McCain and as a legislative assistant to Senator Larry Pressler.

Begeman has also worked in the private sector, serving as a benefits specialist for First American Bankshares, Inc. She earned a B.S. in business administration from the University of South Dakota.

Begeman was first nominated by President Obama on Dec. 20, 2010. She was also nominated on Jan. 5, 2011 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 14, 2011, for a term that expires Dec. 31, 2015. Begeman was then named vice chairman by the Board, a role that rotates between members each year. She was sworn in by STB Commissioner Francis P. Mulvey.

“I am honored to have been nominated and confirmed for this important post,” Ms. Begeman said. “I look forward to working with all stakeholders, my new colleagues and Board staff.”

The first case concerns a challenge by Canadian National Railway Co. to an arbitration award that the company says would block a planned consolidation of its Troy, Mich., and Homewood, Ill., dispatching facilities. The American Train Dispatchers Association opposes the challenge, saying the arbitrator correctly found that CN has not upgraded its dispatching system and trained its dispatchers in a way that would allow the consolidation to proceed.

The second case centers around the proposal by GNP Rly, Inc., to acquire the right to restore rail service over two segments of railroad right-of-way that are currently reserved for a recreational trail.

GNP is asking the Board to vacate the Notice of Interim Trail Use it issued for these segments so the carrier can serve freight customers. King County, Wash., the trail sponsor, and the City of Redmond, Wash., oppose the request, saying that GNP does not own the right-of-way or have any other contractual rights to it, and so is not in a position to resume rail service.

In its Dec. 24, 2008 decision approving CN’s acquisition of the principal portion of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E), the STB ordered CN to pay 67 percent of the cost for a grade separation at Ogden Avenue in Aurora, Ill., and 78.5 percent of a separation at Lincoln Highway in Lynwood, Ill.

CN argued that the STB’s grade separation condition, as applied to a transaction like the EJ&E acquisition, was unjustified and beyond the STB’s regulatory authority. While the Court found CN’s argument “eminently reasonable,” it determined that CN failed to carry the “heavy burden” necessary to overturn the condition.

Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer said: “While we are disappointed by today’s court decision, we will not appeal it further, and will continue working with Illinois officials to implement the grade separations in accordance with the STB’s requirements. The company’s focus remains on completing the integration of the EJ&E into the CN network, a project now in its third year.”

CN’s appeal challenged only the single mitigation condition requiring CN to fund grade separations. CN voluntarily assumed 108 separate mitigation conditions and accepted without objection 73 additional mitigation conditions imposed by the STB. Additionally, CN has reached voluntary mitigation agreements, addressing environmental and safety issues related to the transaction, with 26 of the 33 communities along the EJ&E main line. Excluding the costs to CN of the two grade separations, the mitigation program will cost CN more than $60 million.

CN’s acquisition and integration of the EJ&E will improve the efficiency of its operations in the Chicago area as well as the flow of general rail traffic through the region. This increased efficiency and fluidity is important to the Chicago region’s economy and its continued role as one of America’s most important transportation hubs.

OEA is issuing the SDEIS to address changes in the project that have developed since the preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Specifically, the SDEIS addresses the following issues:

• The potential environmental impacts associated with RJCP’s proposed transport of ethanol over the rail line
• The change in the preliminary plan approval status of the No-Build Alternative—Local Road System Upgrade (Black Rock Road)
• The results of the 2010 summer field survey for Branching Bur-reed (Sparganium androcladum), a Pennsylvania Endangered Species

OEA invites written comment from the public on all aspects of the SDEIS and is providing a 45-day public comment period.

Nottingham, the lone Republican on the three-member Board, was appointed Chairman by President George W. Bush and joined the Board in August 2006 following his Senate confirmation. He served as STB Chairman until March 12, 2009.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to have been appointed by President Bush and to have served in his administration,” Nottingham said. “It has also been an honor to serve in President Obama’s administration. I owe a debt of gratitude to my colleagues on the Board, Chairman Dan Elliott and Commissioner Frank Mulvey, as well as to the Board’s exemplary career staff. Working together in a bipartisan manner, I believe that we achieved outstanding results overseeing the freight railroad industry and the other transportation industry sectors under our jurisdiction.”

In October 2010 Nottingham announced that he would not seek a second term on the Board when his current term expired at the end of 2010. In an effort to facilitate an orderly transition and in order to participate in the resolution of several significant pending proceedings, Nottingham has continued his tenure at the Board into 2011 – consistent with the Board’s governing statute which permits an STB member to continue serving for up to one year after the end of his or her term, until a successor is named and confirmed.

The proposed rulemaking, approved by the STB, would implement a new fee schedule that would charge shippers $350 to file a rate or unreasonable practice complaint. The fee to file an expedited small rate case would remain $150.

“Charging a small business more than $20,000 to bring a complaint is not right,’’ said STB Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. “I am afraid that some meritorious cases were discouraged by the high filing fees.”

Elliott said that while the new fee structure would make it easier to file formal cases at the STB, he hopes that shippers would first avail themselves of the agency’s free informal mediation service, called the Rail Customer and Public Assistance Program. The Board also offers a successful program of formal mediation as well.

The hearing earlier was announced to take place on May 3.

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m., in the Surface Transportation Board Hearing Room, at 395 E Street, SW, in Washington, D.C.

Written comments will now be due by April 12, 2011, and replies will be due on May 27, 2011. Notices of intent to participate in the hearing will be due by June 10, 2011.

The Board has instituted a declaratory order proceeding to determine whether the Board’s jurisdiction preempts the land-use code of Conejos County, Colo., where the transloading would take place.

The public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Hall, 6631 County Road 13, Conejos, Colo.

“I said last year that it was time for the Board to revisit the current rail regulatory framework and that is what we are doing,” said Board Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. “We need to strike a balance between providing access to competitive rail transportation for shippers while maintaining the rail industry’s impressive economic renaissance.”

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m., in the Surface Transportation Board Hearing Room,