FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
10/26/2001 (Friday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 01-53
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov


Surface Transportation Board Conditionally Approves "Six County's" Rail Line Construction in Utah


Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today that the Board has conditionally granted a petition filed by the Six County Association of Governments (Six County), a consortium of six counties in Utah, for an exemption to build and operate a 43-mile railroad line in central Utah. The new line will run south from a connection with a line of the Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP), near Levan, to Salina.



In its decision, the Board concluded that Six County's request for an exemption from regulation to construct the new line would promote the national rail transportation policy. The Board found that the proposed line will provide an alternative rail service option to shippers in an isolated area of Utah and will foster intermodal competition. In particular, the line will provide rail access to the Southern Utah Fuel Company, which now depends on trucks to transport coal 83 miles from its mine at Salina to the UP connection near Levan.



Noting that the construction proposal is subject to an ongoing environmental review process, the Board made its grant conditional, pending the outcome of that review, as it has done in other line construction cases. The agency stated that it would issue a further decision upon completion of the environmental review process.



The Board issued its decision today in Six County Association of Governments--Construction and Operation Exemption--Rail Line Between Levan and Salina, UT, STB Finance Docket No. 34075. A printed copy is available for a fee by contacting D~-2-D~ Legal, Room 405, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006, telephone (202) 293-7776, or via http://Da_To_Da@Hotmail.com. Today's decision is also available for viewing and downloading via the Board's website at http://www.stb.dot.gov.



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