Comment EI-30058
Received or sent (printed as 7/15/2019)
Good afternoon: Thank you for taking the time to read my comments regarding the proposed rail way. Here are some initial concerns that need to be considered and reasons why this project can not move forward: 1. 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. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. New oil train traffic will create increased inconvenience, air pollution, and risk of derailment in the communities through which the trains travel. It is to my knowledge that at least $27.9 million dollars 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. We need to think long term, not just on the short term for big corporation profits. This affects us all, so we all need to be part of the conversation. Please do not continue to destroy the little public lands we have left. Please keep this line undeveloped. Thank you.
Submitted by: Jessica Sosna · Salt Lake City, 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-30058 · back to the docket sheet