Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00451-0148 

Received: 1/27/2021 12:00:00 AM
Commenter: Nancy Roen
Organization: 
State: California

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
I urge you to choose the no-action alternative for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway. Climate change requires all agencies and individuals do their part to mitigate the effects on our environment. This project appears to be primarily to faciitate the transportation of oil and gas train loads to the coast. Oil and gas extraction contribute heavily to climate change. n addition ,the proposed railway would do irreparable harm to our region's air, water, land and wildlife and should not be built. The new production resulting from the railway expansion - potentially four times the current amount - will contribute irreversibly to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Our climate is already at a tipping point, so 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. Traversing roadless areas, steep canyons and rugged terrain, 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. 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 water sources. 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.