Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00698 

Received: 2/13/2021 1:45:18 AM
Commenter: Delmer Hamblin
Organization: 
State: Utah

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
I’m an eighty-six year old lifelong Uintah Basin Resident and I’m opposed to the Uinta Basin Railway. The oil and gas industry is declining - so even if they used the railway for ten years it wouldn’t be worth the cost to build it. And it wouldn’t be worth the impacts it would cause to scenic areas. I’m also concerned about the impacts it would have on wildlife. My wife and I spent forty-four years as Boy Scout leaders here in the Uintah Basin, and for twenty of those years we were in charge of all Kings Peak District camps. We worry about areas we visited with Boy Scouts being damaged directly by the railway, and by the increased drilling that would occur here in the Basin. One of the proposed railway routes would cut through the Gate Canyon/Nine Mile Canyon area – the location of the historic Nine Mile Canyon Road. We visited that area every three years for a district-wide Historic Trails campout, with history-related educational activities. We would hate to see the irreparable damage the railway would cause to that historic area. Please stop all planning for the Uinta Basin Railway!Thank you, Delmer Hamblin