Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00538 

Received: 2/3/2021 12:29:12 AM
Commenter: Jane Perkins
Organization: 
State: Colorado

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
A disaster in the making is the new proposed Uinta Basin Railway! I have lived in Utah for over 45 years, and the state of Utah has unparalleled beauty and promise for a future of restoration and protection of its natural resources and treasures. And, in a time of a global crisis of unprecedented proportion, and an enormous need and requirement that fossil fuel extraction and development BE PHASED OUT for the good and health of our planet, and all life, including human beings, therein -- Utah proposes this inane plan for an 88-mile railroad through these rural counties and significantly increasing fossil-fuel extraction in the Uinta Basin?!! What is Utah thinking? Besides this being an insane and disastrous plan for the nature and ecological nature of the Uinta Basin, we must address the misuse of state funds to build the Uinta Basin Railway - funding that is supposed to be used to support projects for Utah communities, including fire trucks, flood control, road construction projects, and community centers! While Utah’s Permanent Community Impact Board has dedicated public funds to support these much-needed projects, in recent years, the board has taken a wrong and frankly, ignorant and misguided turn by handing over nearly $28 million in public money to the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition in hopes of ramming this 88-mile railroad through these rural counties and significantly increasing fossil-fuel extraction in the Uinta Basin. This is unequivocally WRONG and absolutely unnecessary at this time in our history. There is no doubt that this would negatively impact the surrounding communities and the ecological and environmental nature of this area. I AM DEEPLY OPPOSED TO THE UINTA BASIN RAILWAY!