Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00451-0137 

Received: 1/27/2021 12:00:00 AM
Commenter: Ceil Slauson
Organization: 
State: New Jersey

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
The draft environmental impact statement does not assess the harm this oil railway could have on the environment, wildlife and nearby communities. The production resulting from this new railway expansion - potentially four times the current amount - will contribute irreversibly to increased greenhouse gas emissions. We need to sharply reduce fossil fuel use instead of expanding it. The railway's emissions will also further pollute the air in the Uinta Basin in Utah, which already exceeds federal standards because of existing oil and gas development. This 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. It will 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. In Colorado, 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. The Uinta Basin Railway would harm people who live and recreate in both Utah and Colorado. Landowners in Utah's Argyle Canyon and nearby off-grid canyon communities fear the disruptive noise, traffic delays, and clouds of diesel smoke oil trains will bring along the proposed routes - not to mention the significant potential for accidents, derailments, spills and even sparks that could ignite disastrous wildfires. People in Colorado won't escape the air pollution drifting downwind from Uinta Basin, even as the railway rips through a national monument and other scenic areas supporting outdoorsy tourism many locals rely on for their livelihood.Please choose the no-action alternative.