New Utah oil railroad by river is health and climate risk, campaigners say
Developers are seeking billions of dollars in tax breaks for a new oil railroad in Utah that will threaten the Colorado River and be a risk to the health and safety of millions of Americans while damaging Joe Biden’s climate credentials, campaigners say.
The 88-mile proposed Uinta railway is forecast to quadruple crude oil production in the Uinta Basin by connecting it to the national rail network and coastal refineries.
According to the plans shared with federal agencies, up to five two-mile-long oil trains a day would run more than 100 miles directly alongside the Colorado River – a vital drinking water source for 40 million Americans, 30 tribal nations and millions of acres of farmland. A derailment could be catastrophic for the river, which is already in crisis due to the region’s mega-drought, rising temperatures and reduced snowpack on the Rocky mountains, warn campaigners.
The railway could spur an additional 350,000 barrels of oil extraction a day, campaigners estimate, exacerbating the poor air quality in Utah, Colorado and Gulf coast communities while releasing millions of tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually.
Federal agencies have issued or signalled their willingness to issue key permits, despite the president’s goals to slash planet-heating emissions in half by 2030, tackle environmental inequities and transition to clean energy.
The railway company says environmentalists are overstating the climate footprint, risk of derailment and ecological harm. It recently emerged that the developers are seeking authorization from the Department of Transport (DoT) to issue up to $2bn in tax-exempt bonds to construct and operate the oil train, through a program that has mostly helped
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