Utah not alone in the fight against the Uinta Basin oil railway
Fighting environmental battles in Utah can sometimes feel isolating. Which is why we are thankful for Colorado residents and the government for their vocal opposition to the Utah spurred project, the Uinta Basin Railway (UBR).
This last fall, the Forest Service ok’d the railway’s path through Ashley National Forest. The railway provides a path to increase oil extraction in Utah’s Uinta Basin by between 130,000 to 350,000 barrels of oil per day—a spike of up to four times current levels in the basin or roughly 2.6 percent of total U.S. crude oil production. Construction of the 85-mile railway would have major impacts in and of itself.
This is where Colorado residents see cause for concern. The railway doesn’t just affect Utahns. Refinery production in Utah is capped, in an effort to control air pollution along the Wasatch Front, so to accommodate for the increase in extraction, the railway will ship the crude out, right through Colorado.
A group in Colorado is putting pressure on Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to revoke the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) permit that allows the UBR to cut through the Ashley National Forest in Utah. Please take a moment to reach out to Secretary Vilsack to revoke the permit.