Comment EI-30113
Received or sent (printed as 8/3/2019)
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed Uinta Basin Railway. My wife and I are very concerned about growing threats to the health and well being of Utahns from global heating. This warming is evident everywhere in the world, throughout the United States and across Utah. Climate change is an undeniable "threat multiplier" as the US military has stated. Because of this threat, we believe that every new fossil fuel development project, in this case the related transport of fossil fuels be prohibited and that funding be instead re-directed to renewable energy sources and the development of a smart electric grid. Yes, natural gas is needed to balance loads on the grid, but far too little investment is directed toward renewable while an insane and truly immoral amount of taxpayer money is allocated through incentives to the facilitation of fossil energy development. Our climate system simply cannot take any more of it! The UBR would increase the use of Utah's fossil fuel reserves thereby directly contributing to even higher levels of the atmospheric CO2 that is driving the warming of our planet, accelerating already immanent and very grave damages to humanity, economy and wildlife. With Earth's atmosphere already exceeding 415 ppm of CO2, Utah cannot go on trying to develop every last reserve of coal, oil and gas without destroying the habitability of our planet over large areas as well as the present lifestyles and future prosperity of Utahns. It is for this reason that we write to demand that the EIS for the UBR fully consider the impacts its operation will have on atmospheric CO2 levels and climate change. Fossil fuels shipped to markets over the UBR would clearly compound Utah's already poor air quality plus consume ever more of our state's precious and dwindling supply of water. These consequences simply must not be ignored in this Environmental Impact Statement. Thank You.
Submitted by: Rich Csenge · 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-30113 · back to the docket sheet