Comment EI-30045
Received or sent (printed as 7/13/2019)
I am writing about the proposed Uinta Basin Railway oil train. This would increase production of oil from the Uinta Basin by between 225,000 and 350,000 barrels of oil per day. In a region that currently only produces around 80,000 barrels per day, a quadrupling of oil extraction will affect air quality, public lands, water, and global warming. The 80-mile Indian Canyon route has been identified as the preferred option for the road and is most likely to be constructed. At least $27.9 million in public funds have already been illegally dedicated to forward the project and the ultimate cost of the railway would be at least $1.2 billion. Air pollution in the Uinta Basin has already reached dangerous levels due to oil and gas development. By quadrupling oil extraction in the region, the railway would exacerbate this problem, resulting in more asthma attacks and other harmful conditions that can lead to premature death. The extraction and combustion of four times as much oil from the Uinta Basin would threaten our ability to avoid the most disastrous effects of climate change by staying under 1.5°C warming. Fossil fuel development requires large amounts of water. At a time when water security for the region is more tenuous than ever, increased oil development unleashed by the Uinta Basin Railway would threaten the region's water supply. The new development needed to create a fourfold increase in oil development in the Uinta Basin will result in major impacts to the region's landscapes, including on public lands. As usual, these costs will end up on the taxpayers. It's unsafe and costly.
Submitted by: ROSALIE WIND · kanab, 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.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-36284/comment/EI-30045 · back to the docket sheet