950411.docx

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:COMMISSIONER NELSON
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSIONER HANSEN
MYRNA WALTERS
TONYA CLARK
DON HOWELL
STEPHANIE MILLER
MARY FRIDDLE
GARY RICHARDSON
WORKING FILE
FROM:BRAD PURDY
DATE:APRIL 11, 1995
RE:CASE NO. APPLICATION OF IDAHO NORTHERN AND PACIFIC
RAILROAD FOR ABANDONMENT OF THE WEISER TO COUNCIL
BRANCH; CASE NO. IN-RR-95-1
This matter is now fully submitted.  In addition to the evidence you received during the Weiser hearing, attached are several submittals from Ron Kerr, with the Idaho Transportation Department, responding to specific inquiries the Commission made during the hearing.
Idaho Code § 62-424 provides:
Hearing on Abandonment.—Whenever any railroad proposes to abandon any branch line or main line now in operation within the state of Idaho, the railroad shall file notice of the intended abandonment with the Public Utilities Commission.  Not less than 90 days after such notice, the Public Utilities Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposed abandonment.  If the hearing results in a finding by the Commission that the abandonment of the branch line or main line would adversely affect the area then being served and that there is reason to believe that the closure would impair the access of Idaho communities to vital goods and services and market access to those communities and that the line has potential for profitability, then the Public Utilities Commission shall transmit a report of its findings to the Interstate Commerce Commission on behalf of the people of the state of Idaho.
Pursuant to section 62-424, if the Commission finds that [1] the abandonment would adversely affect the area being served, [2] there is reason to believe that the closure would impair the access of Idaho communities to vital goods and services and market access to those communities and [3] that the line has potential for profitability, then the Commission is statutorily obligated to submit a report of its findings to the ICC.  If the foregoing criteria have not been established then, presumably, the Commission may simply issue an order to that effect and take no further action.
Commission Decision:
Does the Commission find that the statutory criteria set forth in Idaho Code § 62-424 have been satisfied?

Brad Purdy
JR\M-IN-RR-95-1.BP