Supporting Statement - Catch-all Petitions (submitted)

2140-XXXX
January 2014
SUPPORTING STATEMENT – CATCH-ALL PETITIONS
A. Justification:
1. Why the collection is necessary. The Surface Transportation Board is, by statute,
responsible for the economic regulation of common carrier freight railroads and certain other
carriers operating in the United States. Under 49 U.S.C. § 721 and 49 C.F.R. § 1117 (the
Board’s catch-all petition provision), shippers, railroads, other regulated carriers, communities
and other persons may seek relief (such as petitions seeking waivers of the Board’s regulations)
not otherwise specifically provided for under the Board’s other regulatory provisions. The
Board’s collection of these petitions enables the Board to more efficiently meet its statutory duty
and grant the requested relief if appropriate.
2. How the collection will be used. Persons seeking to make requests or claims not
otherwise specifically provided for by the Board’s regulations may file a catch-all petition under
49 C.F.R. § 1117. Under this regulation, catch-all petitions must contain three items: (a) a short,
plain statement of jurisdiction, (b) a short, plain statement of petitioner’s claim, and (c) request
for relief. A common use of the catch-all petition is made by a party to a proceeding, or a party
seeking to institute a proceeding, seeking waivers of specific Board regulations. For example, in
an adverse abandonment case, persons seeking to force railroads to abandon a rail line may seek
a waiver of requirements to provide information when only the railroad would have that
information. The Board uses the information in the catch-all petition to evaluate such a request
and determine whether to grant the requested relief. The filings that comprise this collection are
designated as permanent records. Accordingly, the STB retains them for 10 years, after which
they are transferred to the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration.
3. Extent of automated information collection. These documents may be e-filed on the
Board’s website, located at www.stb.dot.gov. With limited exceptions (as discussed in response
#10), these documents are publicly available on the Board’s website.
4. Identification of duplication. The information requested does not duplicate any other
information available to the Board or the public. No other entity has authority to address these
petitions, and no other federal agency collects this information.
5. Effects on small business. This collection does not have a significant economic effect
on a substantial number of small entities. Generally, catch-all petitions are limited in scope and
nature. They primarily have been used, as discussed, for waivers of specific subsections of the
Board’s regulations.
6. Impact of less frequent collections. Congress provided for the Board to address these
petitions not otherwise specifically provided for by statute. See 49 U.S.C. § 721. Failure to

allow persons to formally address issues not otherwise specifically addressed by the Board’s
regulations could lead to inequities and gaps in procedures, and, therefore, eliminate the Board’s
ability to completely fulfill its statutory mandate by granting appropriate relief.
7. Special circumstances. No special circumstances apply to this collection.
8. Compliance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8. As required, the Board published a notice
providing a 60-day comment period regarding this collection. See 78 Fed. Reg. 23826 (4/22/13).
No comments were received. A 30-day notice was published concurrently with this submission
to Office of Management and Budget (OMB). See 79 Fed. Reg. 2249 (1/13/14).
9. Payments or gifts to respondents. The Board does not provide any payment or gift to
respondents.
10. Assurance of confidentiality. This collection is generally available to the public as
filings on the Board’s website, located at
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/WebFilingDate?openform. However, some of the
information collected may be protected and treated as confidential. At times, persons filing a
catch-all petition before the Board, or responding to one, may wish to file commercially sensitive
information. To protect such information, parties may mark documents or portions of documents
as “confidential” or “highly confidential” and simultaneously file a motion for a protective order.
See 49 C.F.R. § 1104.14. Generally, the Board will issue a protective order (sometimes with
modifications), limiting access to confidential pleadings to parties who demonstrate a need for
the information and adequately ensuring that the documents will be kept confidential. In such
circumstances, a redacted public version of the document will be posted on the Board’s website
in lieu of the document containing confidential information.
11. Justification for collection of sensitive information. No sensitive information of a
personal nature is requested.
12. Estimation of burden hours for respondents. The following information pertains to
the estimate of burden hours associated with this collection:
(1) Number of respondents: Six respondents filed catch-all petitions during Fiscal Year 2012
(FY 2012).
(2) Frequency of response: On occasion. (Nine catch-all petitions were filed during FY
2012.)
(3) Annual hour burden per respondent and total for all respondents: Based on informal
feedback recently provided by a small sampling (less than five) of respondents for
similarly small filings, it is estimated that it takes approximately 24.5 hours to prepare
and file a catch-all petition with the Board. The resulting total hourly burden for this
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collection is estimated at 220.5 hours (estimated hours per petition (24.5) X number of
FY 2012 petitions (9)).
For respondents, there is no Board-generated record keeping requirement associated with
this collection.
13. Other costs to respondents: The total annual costs to respondents, or the “non-hour
burden” costs associated with this information collection, will consist of printing, copying,
mailing and messenger costs. Based on informal feedback recently provided by a small sampling
(less than five) of respondents, it is estimated that it will average approximately $70 per petition.
(However, the actual costs to respondents will depend on the facts of each filing situation.) In
FY 2012, respondents made nine filings. When multiplied by the estimated average non-hourly
costs, the total estimated cost for all respondents is, therefore, no more than $630 (estimated
“non-hour burden” cost per petition ($70) X number of FY 2012 responses (9)).
14. Estimated costs to the Board: The total annual cost to the Board of this collection is
estimated at $5,027. This estimate is based on a cost study performed by the Board to determine
the cost to the Board of various Board functions. These cost studies are typically used to
determine the various fees set by the Board, including the fees for filing petitions. While the
Board generally sets its fees to capture the total cost of collection to the Board, the Board recently
reduced the fees for filing these petitions. Nevertheless, the Board continues to track the full cost
for each type of petition and, therefore, staff is able to derive the estimated total annual cost to
the Board for this collection.
15. Changes in burden hours. This is an existing collection without a control number.
16. Plans for tabulation and publication: Generally, catch-all petitions are published on
the Board’s website, located at www.stb.dot.gov. However, as discussed above, when these
petitions contain confidential information, only a public, redacted version is published on the
Board’s website.
17. Display of expiration date for OMB approval. There is no form associated with this
collection. When issued, the control number and expiration date for this collection will be
published in the Federal Register.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement. Not applicable.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
Not applicable.

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