On May 8, 2013 the Surface and Transportation Board (STB) issued a decision regarding Diana Del Grosso, Ray Smith, Joseph Hath, Cheryl Hatch, Kathleen Kelley, Andrew Wilklund, and Richard Kosiba – Petition for Declaratory Order. The decision denies a request filed by the seven residents of the town of Upton for reconsideration of the Board’s decision to deny discovery in the proceeding. This means the documents the STB has in front of it now, which is the Terminal Transloading Agreement and the yard’s Lease Agreement, are sufficient to allow the issues raised by the petitioners to be decided. The petitioners now have 10 days to respond to G&U Railroad previous responses.
The STB also rejected the Petitioner’s claim that documents related to the Grafton Federal Court amount to new evidence discovery. In a Board proceeding, any evidence subject to discovery, whether new or not, must be relevant to the subject matter of that proceeding. Because the documents from the Grafton court litigation relate to a different transload facility and different parties, such evidence is immaterial to this proceeding. Therefore, Petitioners’ request to conduct discovery based on that evidence is not a sufficient basis for reconsidering the Director’s decision. The Petitioners will not be able to submit any documents relating to the Grafton Federal Court litigation.
On April 22 the G & U Railroad filed a motion to strike the letter filed by the Upton Planning Board on April 9 arguing in part that the letter was filed late. The STB ruled in favor with the G & U Railroad and has rejected the letter.
“We are pleased that the Surface Transportation Board, in rejecting the Petitioners’ claim for discovery and the late filing from the Upton Planning Board, has seen fit to stay within the confines of the issues at hand,” said Jon Delli Priscoli, owner and CEO of the Grafton & Upton Railroad. “We look forward to the STB issuing its final decision in this matter so that we can then place our full efforts and resources in continuing to create economic activity, including new jobs and tax revenue, for the communities that we serve.”
The Petitioners are preparing their final reply and reaching out to the community in an effort to raise funds for attorney fees.
STB decision – dismissing petition for reconsideration on discovery (P0176251) (2)
UPTON DAILY 