Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00303 -- Oral Comment at Public Meeting 

Received: 11/19/2020 12:00:00 PM
Commenter: Chris Maylett
Organization: 
State: 

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
Thank you for the opportunity to present my comments regarding the subject.
· · · · ·First of all, I want to reach out and just say how much I appreciate everything that the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition is doing there in rural Utah and the areas there that they operate.· These are people that live in rural Utah.· These are people that understand rural Utah and really have our voice in mind.· And so I really want to say how much I appreciate all of their efforts in the projects and the things that they're doing there. · · · · ·

And first of all, as far as the Uinta Basin Railway, when this first started, you know, back a few years ago, I feel like I was very well-informed.· I feel like they've done a fantastic job of reaching out to the communities there that's going to be impacted by this there.· And I appreciate the openness there that we've seen with this project.· I know I get emails.· I get stories about it at least a couple of times a week, and so I really appreciate that. · · · · ·

So as far as the market for the railway coming in here, you know, I work in the oil and gas here in the basin.· And one of the things, you know, for years -- I've been here for 25 years, so I'm a local.· I've worked local for 25 years.· I've been in the basin around other industries as well. · · · · ·

And one of the things, you know, right now, our crude -- the only market we have for our crude oil is Salt Lake City.· So what happens when a refinery in Salt Lake City, they're in a shut down?· Well, all of sudden, we're having to shut in wells here.· We're having to lay people off.· We're having to -- whatever the case is because our market right now is completely the Wasatch Front.· And so I look forward to this project to open up
more markets for us. · · · · ·

And we have this stuff called "waxy crude" here in the basin, and it's awesome to see the opportunities for our waxy crude and the opportunities to be able to sell the wax out of our crude and have those opportunities for us to diversify the market there that we're able to push out to.· And so I really, you know, Mike Stengel, I appreciate your comments there. I absolutely look forward to it, you know, as far as people that live in the basin, people that work in the basin. · · · · ·

And as far as tax dollars go, when we look at the amount of money that is generated off of oil and gas, you know, I'd love for all that money just to stay right here in the Uinta Basin because we would be diversified. We would have economic stability.· But unfortunately, a lot of that money goes to building I-15.· It goes to building the highways that are along the Wasatch Front. · · · · ·

And so like as far as air quality goes and the environment and stuff, the oil and gas industry invests so much money into the environment and restoring the environment and those types of things.· And so I appreciate all of the effort that is made by our local oil and gas companies in caring about our air quality and our environment.· · · · ·And so anyway, that's all I had.· Just wanted to add my two cents.· So thank you.