SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) today issued a decision in Union Pacific Railroad Company—Construction and Operation Exemption—in Maricopa County, Ariz., Docket No. FD 36501, a docket in which UP has petitioned the Board for an exemption from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. § 10901 to construct a 6-mile rail line in Maricopa County and Pinal County, Arizona.

In today’s decision, the Board directs UP to cure certain deficiencies in its responses to earlier Board-ordered document requests relating to ground disturbances and damage to archaeological resources that were discovered during the preparation of the Final Environmental Assessment.  The Board also reinstates a schedule that was placed in abeyance earlier this year for submissions relating to whether UP engaged in “anticipatory demolition” of historic properties.

Chairman Primus concurred with the decision and wrote separately to address the timetable and reasons for delay in this proceeding, saying, “The Board takes disturbing and desecrating ancestral sacred lands extremely seriously and will not compromise the time needed to thoroughly investigate this matter.”

The Board’s decision in Union Pacific Railroad Company—Construction and Operation Exemption—in Maricopa County, Ariz., Docket No. FD 36501, may be viewed and downloaded here.

###