-----------------------------***----------------------------- >From the Surface Transportation Board, Washington, D.C. -----------------------------***----------------------------- The Surface Transportation Board today provided a schedule of speakers' appearances and their time allocations for the STB's May 11, 2006 public hearing in the proceeding entitled Rail Fuel Surcharges, STB Ex Parte No. 661. The Thursday, May 11, hearing will be held in Room 760, the STB's hearing room, on the 7th Floor of the agency's headquarters in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The morning session will begin at 9:00 a.m. The afternoon session will begin at 1:00 p.m. The STB announced the public hearing in STB Ex Parte No. 661 in a decision issued to the public on March 14, 2006. That decision established due dates for those wishing to speak at the hearing to advise the agency of their intent to participate, to request a time allotment, and to submit written testimony. Based on submissions received, the STB has set the hearing's schedule of speakers as shown on the Attachment to this news release. The agency is holding the hearing to provide a forum for the expression of views by rail shippers, railroads, and other interested persons, on the manner in which fuel surcharges are calculated and charged by railroads. The cost of fuel is a significant component of the operating costs of providing rail service, and railroads can reasonably be expected to devise methods to collect increases in those costs from their shippers. However, the rail shipper community has voiced concerns that recent fuel surcharges collected by railroads are designed to recover amounts over and above increased fuel costs. Attendance instructions. The STB requests that all persons attending the hearing use the Mercury Building's main entrance at 1925 K Street (on the northeast corner of the intersection of 20th and K Streets). There will be no reserved seating. Please plan to arrive early enough to be seated no later than 8:45 a.m. for the morning session, and no later than 12:45 p.m. for the afternoon session. For security reasons, all persons should be prepared to produce photo identification (such as a driver's license), pass through a metal detector, and submit to an inspection of all briefcases, handbags, and any other bags. Visitors must be cleared through security in the STB's Suite 100 (on the 1st Floor, at the top of the ramp to the left of the main lobby) prior to being escorted to the hearing room. Quiet laptops and tape recorders may be brought into the hearing room, but absolutely no provision will be made for the connection of personal computers to agency telephone lines. Cellular telephone use is not permitted in the hearing room, or in the rear anteroom; cell phones may be used only outside the hearing room. The STB's hearing room complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act, and persons needing such accommodations should telephone Beverly Ledbetter, in the STB's Office of Proceedings, at (202) 565-1664, by the close of business on May 4, 2006. As the STB Members will have read written submissions in advance of the hearing, speakers should not read those submissions at the hearing but, instead, briefly summarize key points. If a party wishes to enhance its presentation by using projector-adaptable visual displays and/or handouts, it may do so. Agency staff will be available to demonstrate the hearing room's projection system on May 10, 2006, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please telephone (202) 565-1664 to make arrangements. The schedule of speakers' appearances and time allocations was provided in a decision issued to the public today, April 25, 2006, in STB Ex Parte No. 661( http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/36958?OpenDocument ) . That decision is available for viewing and downloading via the agency's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov. A printed copy of the Board's decision also is available for a fee by contacting ASAP Document Solutions, 9332 Annapolis Rd., Suite 103, Lanham, MD 20706, telephone (202) 306-4004, or via asapdc@xxxxxxxxxxxx A video broadcast of the hearing will be accessible via the STB's Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov, under "Information Center"/"Webcast"/"Live Video" on the home page. ### Attachment Surface Transportation Board Public Hearing RAIL FUEL SURCHARGES, STB Ex Parte No. 611 SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES Party / Speaker / Time Allotted Panel I: Government State of Montana / The Honorable Brian Schweitzer, Governor / 20 minutes Panel II A: Shippers Wheat & Barley Commissions / Terry C. Whiteside / 10 minutes North Dakota Grain Dealers Association / Steven D. Strege / 10 minutes National Grain & Feed Association / Kendell Keith / 10 minutes The Fertilizer Institute / Judy Gillies / 10 minutes Transportation, Elevator, and Grain Merchants Association / Eric Wilkey / 5 minutes Ag Processing / Terry J. Voss / 5 minutes Panel II B: Shippers Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers/Daimler Chrysler / George H. Telfer / 10 minutes Ameren Energy Fuels and Services Co. / Robert K. Ness and Jay Roman / 10 minutes Western Coal Traffic League / Thomas D. Crowley and Peter A. Pfohl / 10 minutes Entergy Corporation / Bill Mohl / 10 minutes The AES Corporation / Thomas W. Wilcox / 10 minutes Panel II C: Shippers Concerned Captive Coal Shippers / James N. Heller and C. Michael Loftus / 10 minutes Total Petrochemicals USA, Inc. / Stephen J. Pocsik and Michael F. McBride / 10 minutes Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp./ Steve Sharp / 10 minutes Degussa Corporation / Diane Elhakim / 10 minutes Potlatch Forest Product Corp. / David A. Weisel / 10 minutes Griffin Industries / James L. Conway / 10 minutes Graniterock / Daniel V. Slavin / 5 minutes Panel III: Trade Associations The National Industrial Transportation League / Curt Warfel and John Ficker / 10 minutes American Chemistry Council / Thomas E. Schick / 10 minutes Edison Electric Institute / Charles W. Linderman and Michael F. McBride / 10 minutes Railroads (parties speaking individually, not as a panel) BNSF Railway Company / John P. Lanigan / 10 minutes Canadian National Railway Company / James M. Foote / 10 minutes Canadian Pacific Railway / Bob Milloy / 10 minutes CSX Transportation, Inc. / Christopher P. Jenkins / 10 minutes Norfolk Southern Railway Company / Donald W. Seale / 10 minutes Union Pacific Railroad Company / Robert M. Knight, Jr. / 10 minutes Oil Creek and Titusville Lines / Robert O. Dingman, Jr. / 5 minutes Panel IV: Consultants Escalation Consultants, Inc. / Jay Roman / 10 minutes Snavely King Majoros O'Connnor & Lee, Inc. / Tom O’Connor / 10 minutes Transportation Economics, Inc. / Mazhar Ali Awan / 10 minutes Highroad Consulting, Ltd. / Sandra J. Dearden / 5 minutes Freight Resources Network, LLC / Michael R. Behe / 5 minutes ### -----------------------------***----------------------------- If you have received this e-mail in error or wish to unsubscribe from STB News, please send an e-mail message to stbnewslistserver@xxxxxxxxxxx and place "unsubscribe stbnews" as the body of the message.
