Supporting Statement - Report of Fuel Cost, Consumption and Surcharge Revenue

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR REQUEST OF OMB APPROVAL
UNDER THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND 5 CFR 1320
The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) has adopted a rule to require all Class
I railroads (defined as carriers having revenues in excess of 250 million dollars in 1991 dollars)
to report monthly the following: (1) total monthly fuel cost; (2) gallons of fuel consumed during
the month; (3) increased or decreased cost of fuel over the previous month; (4) total monthly
revenue from fuel surcharges; and (5) total monthly revenue from fuel surcharges on regulated
traffic only. The Board requests a three-year approval of this “Report of Fuel Cost,
Consumption, and Surcharge Revenue.”
A. Justification
1. Statutory and Regulatory Basis. Under 49 U.S.C. 10702, the Board has the authority to
address the reasonableness of a rail carrier’s practices. The Board has authority under section
11144 to prescribe the form of records required to be prepared or compiled by regulated rail
carriers, and to inspect and copy any record of such a carrier. Moreover, the Board has specific
authority under section 11145(a)(1) to require regulated rail carriers to file annual, periodic, and
special reports containing answers to questions asked by the Board.

2. Uses of Information. This information collection will permit the Board to monitor the current
fuel surcharge practices of the Class I carriers.
3. Reduction of Burden. These forms may be faxed or e-filed by carriers.
4. Identification of Duplication. The information requested does not duplicate any other
information available to the Board or to the public.
5. Impact on Small Business. There is no impact on small businesses. This collection is
required to be filed only by Class I railroads (currently seven), which have revenues in excess of
250 million dollars.
6. Consequence if Collection Not Conducted or Less Frequent. This information is collected
quarterly. Fuel prices can fluctuate frequently. Therefore, a quarterly collection of this
information is needed to provide current and relevant information to the Board.
7. Special Circumstances. No special circumstances require the collection to be conducted in a
manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.
8. Outside Consultations. As required under 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), the Board published in
the Federal Register a 60-day notice requesting public comments on this collection, and received
several comments, which are summarized in the final rule. The comments are also attached to
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this request. In response to these comments, the Board reduced the frequency of the report,
extended the deadline for reporting, and added one line item designed to increase the utility of
the report.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents. No payments or gifts to respondents are made.
10. Confidentiality. No confidential information is being collected in this information
collection. The collected information will be posted on the Board’s website.
11. Sensitive Information. No information of a sensitive nature is requested.
12. Collection Burden to Respondents. The Board estimates a total annual labor burden for all 7
respondents of 84 hours (excluding a one-time, initial expenditure of not more than 8 hours that
may be required to program existing computer systems to generate the required information).
The estimated 84-hour total annual labor burden is based on a quarterly response time for each of
the 7 respondents of no more than 3 hours of labor required to do the following: (1) collect data
from within their operating systems; (2) calculate fuel cost increase/decrease each month; (3)
post figures to report; (4) independently verify and sign; and (5) mail or fax the report to the
STB.
13. Annual Cost to Respondents. No non-labor costs are anticipated. There is no filing fee at
the Board.
14. Annualized Cost to Federal Government. Staff estimates an annual burden to the agency of
3-5 labor hours. This entails 1 hour labor for receipt and posting to the Board’s website of an
estimated 28 reports, which would be performed by the Boards support staff (GS-6 level) at
$18.39 per hour (with a fully distributed cost to the Board per hour of $22.07), and an additional
2 to 4 hours for review by professional staff (GS-14 level) at a cost of $50.95 per hour (with a
fully distributed cost to the Board per hour of $61.14. Therefore, the estimated annualized cost
to the Board is $144.35 to $266.63.
15. Changes in Burden Hours. The Board proposes a new reporting requirement.
16. Statistical Use. Not applicable. There are no plans to publish for statistical use information
derived from this collection.
B. Collection of Information for Employing Statistical Methods. Not applicable. This
collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

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