advertisement

---

Surface Transportation Board Jan. 3 named Commissioner Wayne Burkes vice chairman, succeeding former Commissioner William Clyburn Jr.
Burkes — the fifth board member since STB's 1996 creation — joined the board in February 1999, serving a term that expires Dec. 31. STB annually rotates the vice chairmanship among commissioners.
The board Jan. 3 also announced that it's currently considering an unprecedented number of rail-line construction proposals.
The 11 proposals include:
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe's 7.8-mile line to provide alternate rail service to Union Carbide Corp.'s Seadrift, Texas, petrochemical plant;
• Illinois Central Railroad's 3.2-mile line to provide alternate rail service to ExxonMobile's East Baton Rouge Parish, La., chemical plant;
• Norfolk Southern Railway's plan to construct a 4.7-mile line and rehabilitate 11 track miles to provide alternate rail service to Keystone Electrical Generating Station in Shelocata, Pa.;
• Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp.'s $1.5 billion Power River Basin project;
• San Jacinto Rail Ltd./BNSF's 12.8-mile line to provide alternate rail service to Houston's Bayport chemical complex;
• Six County Association of Government's 43-mile Salina-to-Levan, Utah line to provide rail service to regional shippers; and
• Great Salt Lake and Southern Railroad's 32-mile Tooele County, Utah line to serve a proposed interim spent-nuclear-fuel storage facility.