21 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT, 6/13:

Wells to rails: Utah may build $2 billion line to ship oil
Train route would stretch from Uinta Basin to Price.

After studying 26 possible routes for a rail line to transport crude oil from the Uinta Basin, the Utah Department of Transportation revealed Friday that only one is feasible.

That is a 100-mile route southwest to Price, roughly along U.S. 191, which would require a 10-mile tunnel through mountains. It could connect with national rail lines near Price, and take oil to Wasatch Front refineries or anywhere else in the nation to expand Utah energy markets.

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 5/14/19:

Private partner to finance, build Uinta Basin Railway

 

 

The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition's (SCIC) board voted to select Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners LP for a public-private partnership to finance, develop and construct the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in Utah.

 

The Uinta Basin Railway is a new freight-rail line proposed by SCIC to connect the Uinta Basin to the national rail network and make it possible to economically transport goods in and out of the region, according to the project's website.

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 6/20/19:
 

STB solicits comments on proposed Uinta Basin Railway's environmental impact

 

 

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) yesterday began the federal environmental review process for the Uinta Basin Railway project in Utah.

The Uinta Basin Railway is a new freight-rail line proposed by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (SCIC) to connect industries in the Uinta Basin to regional and national markets. Last month, the SCIC selected Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners LP for a public-private partnership to finance, develop and construct the railroad.

Once in operation, Rio Grande Pacific Corp. will operate and maintain the railway.

Through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, the STB and other federal agencies will evaluate potential environmental impacts and identify mitigation measures.  .  .  .

 

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 9/23/19

 

Utah coalition proposes new preferred route for Uinta Basin Railway

 

 

The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition Board in northeast Utah, last week agreed to add a new preliminary route to the environmental study underway for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway.

The coalition will ask the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the federal agency conducting the study, to consider the newly proposed route as the coalition's preferred route, coalition officials said in a press release.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 9/8/20

 

Uinta Basin Railway Green-Lighted

 

 

 

Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners, LP (DHIP) and the State of Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (Coalition) on Sept 8 executed an agreement to advance the Uinta Basin Railway, a new railroad to be constructed and operated by Fort Worth-Tex.-based Rio Grande Pacific Corp. to serve the mineral, agricultural, and construction industries of northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin.

 

Under the agreement, DHIP will purchase the Coalition’s intellectual property funded by Utah’s Community Impact Board, and DHIP will have the exclusive right to develop the railroad. The Coalition is described a “an independent political subdivision of the State of Utah with seven member counties in eastern and central Utah: Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, San Juan, Sevier, and Uintah. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2021, with operations commencing by 2023.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire, 10/30/20

STB report says Utah rail project would have 'significant environmental impacts'

 

Comment period begins for draft environmental impact report and appendices running almost 2,800 pages, predicting impact on water, endangered species, land use

 

 

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis says the proposed Uinta Basin Railway would would have “significant environmental impacts” in the draft environmental impact statement released Friday.

 

Waters and wetlands, threatened and endangered species, use of public and private lands, and noise for residences near the rail line would all be affected by the proposed 85-mile rail line to allow transport of crude oil out of an isolated portion of northeastern Utah, as well as inbound shipments of materials related to oil production.

 

A map in the Surface Transportation Board's draft environmental impact statement shows possible routes for the Uinta Basin Railway.

Surface Transportation Board

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Salt Lake Tribune, 11/3/20

Proposed oil railway would chew up 10,000 acres of Uinta Basin habitat

 

 

A proposed oil-hauling railroad would degrade up to 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat in northeastern Utah, potentially disrupting migration corridors and ruining wetlands, according to a new draft environmental review.

 

The federal Surface Transportation Board is reviewing the Uinta Basin Railway, proposed by a group of energy-producing Utah counties that hopes to connect the state’s oil patch to the national rail network. Such a transportation conduit would take hundreds of tanker trucks off Utah highways, but it would result in unavoidable, permanent and significant impacts, according the 580-page Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, released last week.

 

“This oil railway will inflict grave damage on rural communities, wildlife and water and it should never be built,” said Wendy Park, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 11/5/20

 

Utah’s Uinta Basin Railway Project Progresses

 

 

The STB analyzed three potential routes for a proposed new railroad, which would transport crude oil produced in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin.

 

 

The proposed Uinta Basin Railway to be constructed in Utah now has a recommended route. The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis has issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) recommending the 88-mile Whitmore Park Alternative.

 

The state of Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (Coalition) is seeking STB authority to construct and operate the Uinta Basin Railway.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Draft Environmental Impact Statement Issued for the Proposed Uinta Basin Railway in Carbon, Duchesne, Uintah, and Utah Counties, Utah

 

FOR RELEASE
10/30/2020 (Friday) [PDF Version]
No. 20-17

 

 

 

On October 30, 2020, the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in Docket No. FD 36284 for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in Carbon, Duchesne, Uintah, and Utah Counties, Utah.

 

The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (Coalition) is seeking Board authority to construct and operate the proposed rail line, which would extend approximately 85 miles from two terminus points in the Uinta Basin near South Myton Bench and Leland Bench to an existing Union Pacific Railroad Company rail line near Kyune, Utah.  The Draft EIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the Coalition’s proposal, recommends the Whitmore Park Alternative as the environmentally preferred alternative, and sets forth the preliminary recommended mitigation measures.  The Draft EIS also provides instructions on how to register for online public meetings, during which interested parties may submit oral comments on the Draft EIS.

 

Written comments are due by December 14, 2020.  To view the Draft EIS, click here.

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 8/6/21

STB Releases FEIS for Proposed Uinta Basin Railway

 

 

The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) has issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in Utah.

 

SNIP

 

Like the Draft EIS that OEA released on Oct. 30, 2020, the Final EIS recommends the 88-mile Whitmore Park Alternative as the environmentally preferred route. Also analyzed were the Indian Canyon Alternative (81 miles) and the Wells Draw Alternative (103 miles) in addition to a “no action” alternative. Each of the three routes would extend from two terminus points in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin near Myton and Leland Bench to a connection with the existing Union Pacific Provo Subdivision near Kyune (see map above).

 

The Whitmore Park Alternative (see map below) includes five tunnels, totaling 5.7 miles. The estimated construction cost is approximately $1.35 billion.

The OEA has recommended the Whitmore Park Alternative in the Final EIS.

 

More here.