Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00451-0115 

Received: 1/27/2021 12:00:00 AM
Commenter: Nalani Jay
Organization: 
State: Utah

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
I ask you to choose the no-action alternative for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway. Why? Because the railway's emissions will further pollute the air in the Uinta Basin in Utah, which already exceeds federal standards because of existing oil and gas development. (I live in Utah, and my throat already burns regularly during the winter due to our poor air quality.) Because the railway will degrade more than 10,000 acres of habitat for migratory wildlife and will harm important habitat needed by the rare greater sage grouse and the endangered Barnaby ridge-cress. Because the preferred project route would run almost the entire length of Utah's Indian Canyon Creek, crossing and degrading more than 400 streams and important wetlands along the Price River - harming the semi-arid state's precious perennial waterways. Because the project could mean reopening a rail line through the scenic Tennessee Pass in Colorado, despoiling lands and wildlife habitat to get oil trains to the Gulf Coast. Mile-long oil trains could rip through sensitive areas like Browns Canyon, a rugged 22,000-acre national monument designated in 2015 to protect one of the wildest stretches of the Arkansas River. Because there is significant potential for accidents, derailments, spills and even sparks that could ignite disastrous wildfires. (We've seen the terrifying wildfires on the West Coast....we don't need even more wildfire devastation.) Just because some people may want to build and get money for contracts is not a reason to forever damage ecosystems. This project is an unacceptable threat to the health, safety and well-being of wildlife, humans and the planet. Please choose the no-action alternative.