Comment EI-26584
Received or sent (printed as 7/30/2019)
I am writing to oppose the railway in Indian Canyon and these are my reasons. There is different routes that will not impact people, wilderness and environment. Mike McKee is not being honest or transparent about this railway. There is some real shady things going on with regards to this and I am hoping it will be revealed soon. In my opinion Mike McKee loves to spend money on things that fail. Take a look at his highway to nowhere. He and a few other board members have a conflict of interest in this project. I believe the three members with the conflict need to step down. First of all I am not against reasonable drilling and believe this railway should go through Colorado and not over a steep mountain pass. It's my understanding that the only reason the Colorado option is not even really being considered is because the Colorado Governor is anti-oil and Utah CIB will not give the SCIC money if they do it in Colorado. I want to start with economic impact. I heard the Duchesne Commissioner speak about how unemployment went from 2%-10% over the course of the last 10 years. I can tell you why this happen, it was because Obama stopped all drilling. I was a oil field wife and I can tell you it never lasts. Today oil production is going strong because of our sitting President but come 2020 that could all change. We have heard loud and clear what the Democratic Party thinks of drilling. So what happens to this railway when drilling in the Basin comes to a halt, which it does every few years no matter who is President. During the last oil boom the economy grew in the Basin so much, if you didn't work in the oil field you couldn't afford to live there. Housing costs skyrocketed, drilling companies rented every place they could find. I know this because my ex Husband owned a trailer park in Roosevelt. Things were good in the Basin, people moving into these small rural towns, paying 2000.00 a month to rent a 3 bedroom trailer which rented for 500.00 before the boom. Families were buying overpriced homes left and right, new trucks, recreational vehicles, etc. Life was good, then fast forward a couple years. We got a new President and it all stopped, people lost their jobs, homes, cars and their way of life. I have spoken with people who know all about the oil in the Basin, who have worked this field for 40 years. They claim there isn't enough oil left in the Basin to justify spending millions of dollars on a railway. They said at the rate they are talking the Basin would be dry within 5 years. They said a railway would quadruple drilling. What does that do for the air quality and ground water? It's been proven that fracking and drilling cause earthquakes anyone ever give any thought to the huge damn that sits right above Vernal? If that damn were to break due to so much ground movement they wouldn't have to worry about any railway. Flaming Gorge would dump into Vernal and surrounding areas wiping them totally out. I'm sure you will see from an impact study that Indian Canyon is full of methane gas and coal. You drove through the canyon, there are pumps on both sides of the mountain. Only reason there isn't any on the mountain is because we won't let them in there. I assure you that mountain is filled with gas/oil/coal. Add spark and you have an explosion like you have never seen before. What impact will it have on the mountain? How many trees will need to be cut down for construction? Where will the wildlife go, there isn't much forest up there as it is for wildlife. How many properties are going to be impacted directly and indirectly? There is one road in and out, during construction how are we supposed to access our properties? In the case of an emergency how would we get out when construction equipment blocks the only access? Even after it’s built when the train comes out of the tunnel (which will be the 2nd largest in the US) how will we cross the tracks to get to our property? Who will maintain this? We don’t want people going in and out of our properties. Who is going to protect our properties from theft and vandalism? We are behind locked gates, with a railway anyone can gain access. I ask you should people have to watch for trains while hiking or on a recreational vehicle in the middle of a forest? When, not if things go wrong a fire, an oil spill how will crews get in to fight it? This is rugged country with very few roads. Most importantly should a forest be destroyed for the profit of oil? We all know they cannot build this railway for the money they are seeking. In 1983 we had one of the worse landslides in US history that took out part of the railway. I researched what it cost to build a tunnel 3000 feet (not miles) and replace a couple miles of track. In today’s market it would cost 117,000,000. That is only for a few miles of track and a 3000’ tunnel. They are talking 80-100 miles of track plus a 3-4 mile tunnel. This project would cost much more than the 1.4 billion they are seeking. This project would be more like into the 10’s of billions to complete. How much is the oil worth coming out of the Basin? There would not be a profit for many years if at all. I believe this project should be stopped just because of the lack of transparency from the SCIC. I also believe the three board members need to step down because of their conflict of interest. I also believe the CIB needs to be investigated because of the amount of money they gave the SCIC. I have attached pictures of what this railway will destroy. Deer within 10' of you, fresh mountain water, beautiful wilderness, recreation, cabins and our piece of heaven on earth. Thank you for your time, Pamela Underwood
Submitted by: Pamela Underwood · Price, UT
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
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