Comment EI-31009
Received or sent (printed as 1/27/2021)
Dr Wayland and the Surface Transportation Board, We are at a crucial time in history where we must implement procedures to help tackle the climate crisis. For this reason I, along with many others, are begging you to take the no-action alternative for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway. This railway would do irreparable damage to our region's air, water, land and wildlife and is- to be frank- an absolutely idiotic approach considering all that needs to be accomplished in our ongoing battle with changing climate and increasing CO2 levels. I do not think this draft encompasses all that it needs to when it comes it's impact on the environment, both in the Uinta and Great Basin area as well as the world as a whole. We're not only looking at the direct damage it would do to the ecosystems, migration patterns of wildlife, and countless other physical factors, but also the moral implications that it would cause with encouraging continuation of digging for oil. Not only in Utah, but all over. Physical repercussions we're looking at include over 10,000 ACRES of habitat for wildlife and their migration paths as well as rare species like the sage grouse. In addition we're talking crossing and degrading over 400 streams and precious perennial waterways. While these reasons should be enough in or of themselves we're talking about a major increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as much as four times! This seems like a no brainer, but we are at a point in time where adding to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is just unacceptable and potentially irreversible. Lastly, these negative effects reach far past Utah animals and habitats, but also is a threat to human life and well-being, as well all of the above in surrounding states like Colorado. Across the board this project is heinous and unacceptably harmful to wildlife, humans, habitats, and atmospheric carbon levels. I beg you to chose the no-action alternative.
Submitted by: Melissa Reinstadtler · 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-31009 · back to the docket sheet