Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00052 

Received: 11/29/2020 10:27:17 AM
Commenter: Nancy Orr
Organization: 
State: Utah

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
I object to this project because it is a use of public funds to benefit private industry. Those funds would be better used to help diversify employment opportunities for the workers in the Uinta Basin, rather than enabling the oil and gas industry further opportunity to add to the already severe pollution levels in the area. Each time I travel through the Basin I note that the air pollution is worsening, which borders on criminal for such a sparsely populated and beautiful area. I would prefer that my tax dollars be invested in infrastructure which will encourage sustainable energy development, rather than supporting companies which extract the fossil fuels and leave behind a scorched earth which must be remediated at further public expense. I grew up in Appalachia, and witnessed firsthand the greed of the coal companies which destroyed the land and polluted the air and water. The local populace made good money for a while, but were left destitute after the coal companies could no longer make a profit and pulled out of the area. It took decades of publicly funded efforts to restore the land, and the Ocoee River was so polluted that it did not support any fish or other organisms. The extreme poverty of the area remains testament to the greed of the fossil fuel industry.Please do not approve this railway.