Uinta Basin Railway Project: Environmental Impacts to Colorado Must Be Addressed
Colorado Trout Unlimited
Advocacy Committee
April 10, 2023
Colorado Trout Unlimited is deeply concerned about the risks to Colorado’s communities, rivers and streams, coldwater fisheries, forests, and vulnerable landscapes from the Uinta Basin Railway Project.
The proposed Uinta Basin Railway is an 85-mile line connecting drilling operations in Utah to the national rail network that would enable the shipment of up to 350,000 barrels of waxy crude oil daily from Utah through Colorado. The oil trains would travel for over 100 miles directly along the Colorado River and Fraser Rivers through Glenwood Canyon, Eagle County, Gore Canyon, and Grand County. Crossing the Continental Divide at the Moffat Tunnel, oil trains would descend along South Boulder Creek to Denver before heading on to Gulf Coast refineries.
The Railway would greatly increase the transportation of crude oil through the Colorado River corridor. Up to five two-mile-long trains loaded with waxy crude would travel through Colorado daily (along with 5 unloaded cars returning), doubling the baseline traffic and increasing the risk of derailment 2x (from 1.6 to 3.4 accidents per year) according to the Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Although not every derailment would result in oil spilling into the Colorado River, roughly once every 4 years a spill is anticipated to occur, with a 73% chance that spill exceeds 30,000 gallons of oil.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) did not recommend any mitigation to address the potential impact of these risks to Colorado, even though the railway accident rate is doubled. No further assessment of these risks occurred even for sensitive areas such as Glenwood Canyon and Gore Canyon. The STB approved the Uinta Basin Railway Project without requiring additional evaluation of these risks or mitigation plans for what the Project EIS called “downline impacts” outside of the immediate project area.
As an organization that works to protect cold-water fisheries and ecosystems, Colorado Trout Unlimited is focused on the environmental devastation that will occur when there is a derailment and a spill or a fire. The Uinta Basin crude is toxic, and a spill could be catastrophic to our water supplies, wildlife, and trout habitat. Wildfire risks from derailments are heightened during this time when the West is facing severe drought. Accidents in the mountains and steep canyon areas create significant challenges to access for spill clean-up and firefighting. Communities could lose access to safe drinking water and irrigation water. Outdoor recreation in the area, including fishing, boating, and rafting, could be adversely impacted for months.
The increase in railway traffic will also have long-term negative effects on water quality and aquatic life due to the deposition of increased pollutants off the rail cars and damaging sludge releases from Moffat Tunnel (NW CO Council of Governments letter). Long-term environmental concerns extend beyond the mountain towns to the residents of Denver, where the Project will quadruple the amount of hazardous cargo through the city each year (Denverite 2_22_23).
The Project has sparked opposition from more than 70 counties, municipalities, sanitation districts and dozens of environmental groups. Concerns are many, and the recent railway disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, has elevated awareness of the public risks. Eagle County and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed a lawsuit to stop the Project, citing the need for further environmental assessment in Colorado. Multiple towns have signed amici curiae brief in support of the lawsuit. Local elected officials have opposed the project, voicing concerns that a derailment could devastate local tourism, harm water supplies, and cost communities millions of dollars for restoration. Others say the project will more than quadruple the production of the Unita Basin oil fields – an increase of more than 350,000 barrels per day – and cause more than 53 million tons of additional carbon pollution per year. There are concerns that increased traffic through the Moffat Tunnel would prompt a reopening of the Tennessee Pass rail line, which has a history of derailments and could put the Arkansas River watershed at risk as well.
The Project is nearing its final stages of approval. The US Forest Service has yet to issue the Special Use Authorization for the segment of the new railway that would run through the Ashley National Forest. Multiple organizations and elected officials have requested Secretary Vilsack suspend that authorization until the impacts to Colorado are evaluated. The Project developers plan to use tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds (PABs) authorized through the Department of Transportation to cover up to $2 billion in costs for the Uinta Basin Railway, an unprecedented use of DOT funds intended for public benefit and resulting in a cost to taxpayers of over $80 million per year. Numerous concerned citizens and elected officials have requested Secretary Buttigieg reject making PAB funds available.
Colorado Trout Unlimited joins our conservation allies in active opposition to the Uinta Basin Railway Project. We appreciate our U.S. elected officials, including Senator Bennet, Senator Hickenlooper, and Representative Neguse, and our Colorado elected officials, including Speaker McCluskie, Senator Dylan Roberts, Senator Perry Will, Representative Lukens, Representative McLachlan, and Representative Velasco, for requesting that the Project be halted until a thorough risk assessment for Colorado is done.
Colorado Trout Unlimited does not oppose all oil and gas development and indeed has worked with our Colorado Oil and Gas Commission and other stakeholders on rulemakings to manage such development responsibly. The Uinta Basin Railway Project, however, poses unacceptable levels of risk – and the impacts to Colorado specifically were largely ignored through the federal permitting processes.
In summary, downline impacts of the Uinta Basin Railway Project have been recognized in Colorado with an increased 2X predicted railway accident rate and associated risk of spills and fires. Further evaluation of these risks and subsequent development of mitigation plans, particularly along the sensitive habitats in Glenwood Canyon, along the Colorado River, in Gore Canyon, and both sides of the Continental Divide, need to occur. The Uinta Basin Railway has the potential for significant negative impacts on natural resources well beyond Utah’s borders, and protections for Colorado’s communities, forests, rivers, wildlife, and fish must be addressed.