Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00402 -- Oral Comment at Public Meeting 

Received: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM
Commenter: Melissa Peck
Organization: 
State: 

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
Hi, can you hear me?

[pause]

Yes.

[pause]

Thank you.· My name is Melissa Peck, and I am a member of the off grid-gated community in Argyle Canyon.· We've been an off-grid gated community for over 50 years.· It's a private area. None of us are wealthy people up there, but we do
really love our peace and quiet and nature and everything.· We have five game cameras, and we capture everything from bears, deer, elk, moose.· We had a neighbor even capture a picture of wandering Buffalo, if you can believe that.· But we've had forest grouse
and sage-grouse.· And that threatens them because because I know they -- they got rid of the -- the route that was going through Colorado because of their sage-grouse breeding grounds.· Well, the Whitmore and Emma Park area is the same -- the Craig South, and
there is sage-grouse down there, too.· So I don't know where the study got that from that they are going to be impacting less sage-grouse because that's not true.


It can be scary because you can run into pockets of gas.· This is carbon country.· And there is -- just a neighbor drilling his well ran into two pockets of gas.· There is a lot of potential for danger and fire.· We have -- a lot of our water in that area is very scarce already.· And so we have a few springs and small creeks, and those will be affected.

The footprint for construction, they are going to want to take out our private gate that has been there for 50 years.· It is grandfathered in.· So that's a legal concern of mine.

[pause]

Too, the footprint and all the construction is going to scar this area for years to come, for decades to come.· Right now we have roads that are not two-lane roads, they are just dirt roads. The county does not give us any services whatsoever, no plowing, no grading, no garbage, no anything.· And this is really going to devastate this population, and it's awful.· I'm worried that the reason they got rid of the Craig route is because it was not a real legitimate route to begin with and they just really -- oh, and the last thing is the reason that the oil companies are not putting any money into this, is because this has been attempted with the highway and they run out of money.

[pause]

And they don't want to be on the hook for it and so it goes nowhere.

[pause]

Can you hear me?

[pause]

Okay.· Roger Peck is my husband is Roger and is ill this evening and will not be
participating.

[pause]

Thank you.

[pause]

Hi.· Can you hear me?

[pause]

I am sorry, I'm driving.· My husband is Roger peck.· And he's ill but he wants to make a few points.

[pause]

Melissa Peck for Roger Peck.

He wanted to bring up is that the SCIC is pushing so hard right now to get this finalized before the end of the year because President Trump is still in office.· If a new president is elected that is not President Trump, then (inaudible) will be drastically reduced and that makes this project a very unwise and unsafe investment.

None of the oil companies are investing in this project because they don't want to be on the hook for the billions of dollars it is going to take to finish this railroad.

Another concern because of that is that the railroad will never be finished and all of the
environmental impacts will go ahead and be permanently done and yet the railroad will still not be finished.

He also wants everyone to know that we are a member of the Argyle Wilderness Preservation Alliance, and we have a petition of about 3,800, as of today, of signatures in opposition to this railroad, against it, because it is not a good economic or environmental project.

We do feel for the people -- everyone in the basin.· We have family in the basin and everything, but there has to be something else besides crude oil and fracking and tar sand and all of that.· In order to make a community, you have to come up with several
different resources for income.· And this is a possibility.· And they need to go back to the table and come up with different ideas because these fossil fuels may be something of the past.

Anything else?

Any way, one of the reasons that they didn't do the -- that they didn't do the Craig Colorado
route, yes they said it was because of sage grouse, but the Whitmore and the Emma Park area down there also has sage grouse, and it is a nesting ground down there.· So whoever did that research botched that.

The reason that they do that is because the (inaudible) board, the transportation board was going to lean toward that one because the people in Colorado wanted it.· And because it was supposed to be a dummy route.· They have always wanted Argyle Canyon route. And now, a Whitmore is -- they want to attach to the rail line on Highway 6, because they don't just want to send the oil out of state, they want to send it to the Gulf Coast.· They want to send it out of the country.

So, why is it a good idea economically or environmentally that the U.S. is purchasing oil from other countries?

[pause]

We can produce our own, even though there is not a lot.· So we have the means to produce our own.· Why on earth are we sending it out of the country.· That makes no sense, whatsoever.

So I think that's all he wanted to get across, and I appreciate the time given.· Thank you.
We vote no on this project.