FOR RELEASE
Contact: Janie Sheng (202) 245-0221
10/15/2009 (Thursday)
Eric Weiss
No. 09-28


FedRelay 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD ELIMINATES POSITION OF SECRETARY; MAKES OTHER PROCEDURAL CHANGES


The Surface Transportation Board today announced an update to its regulations that eliminates the vacant position of Secretary and removes other incorrect or obsolete references. In recent years, most of the tasks and staff of the Secretary's Office have been reassigned to other Board offices.

For practitioners, the new regulations mean changes in the way filings are addressed and new contacts for other business. The changes will be effective as of Nov. 16.

All Board filings should be sent to the attention of the Chief, Section of Administration, Office of Proceedings, Surface Transportation Board, including requests for a waiver or reduction of filing fees.

All filing fees should be made payable to the "Surface Transportation Board."

Questions regarding Board regulations, offers of financial assistance, public use of trails, published notices and requests for non-attorneys to practice before the Board should be addressed to the Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance.

The Director of the Office of Proceedings will have authority to dispose of routine matters, to decide whether complaint proceedings shall be assigned for oral hearing or handled under modified procedure and whether to dismiss a complaint or application at the request of the complainant or applicant.

The Records Officer in the Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance will be the new custodian of records for the Board, and will be responsible for certifying copies of records.

The complete changes to the Board's regulations are in STB Ex Parte No. 685, issued today. The full text can be found on the Board's Web site, www.stb.dot.gov.
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