On January 13, 2015 an Appeal of the Surface and Transportation Board (STB) decision was filed in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on behalf of the seven Upton Petitioners.
In December 2014 the Surface and Transportation Board ruled in favor of the Grafton and Upton Railroad (G&U RR) in response to the petition filed by seven Upton residents who questioned if the activities at the location fell within “transportation by rail” and therefore would not be preempted but fall within local zoning and other regulations.
The declaratory order found that certain operations conducted at a bulk transloading facility in the Town of Upton, Mass. constitute “transportation by rail carrier” and that, therefore, federal preemption applies to those operations.
The petitioners argued that preemption did not apply to G&U because the transloading services provided at the Upton Facility were not related to transportation; activities in question at the Upton Facility were vacuuming, screening, bagging, and palletizing of wood pellets.
The petitioners are now challenging the STB’s decision.
What’s interesting about the appeal, if granted, is that it puts the STB and G&U RR essentially on the same team. In most court cases where the STB decision is challenged the party that was successful before the STB “intervenes” in the appeal on the STB’s side. In this case the successful party is G&U RR. According to the STB website an intervenor may file a written brief, and in some cases the intervenor’s attorney may participate in addition to the STB counsel in oral arguments before the court.
source STB website
UPTON DAILY 
Give it up already.