Utah’s multibillion dollar oil train proposal chugs along amid environment and derailment concerns

DUCHESNE, Utah (AP) — On plateaus overlooking the Uinta Basin’s hills of sandstone and sagebrush, pumpjacks bob their heads as they lift viscous black and yellow oil from the earth that will eventually make everything from fuel to polyester fabric.

To move fossil fuels from the Uinta Basin’s massive reserve to refineries around the country, officials in Utah and oil and gas companies are chugging along with a plan to invest billions to build an 88-mile (142-kilometer) rail line through national forest and tribal land that could quadruple production.

The Uinta Basin Railway would let producers, currently limited to tanker trucks, ship an additional 350,000 barrels of crude daily on trains up to 2 miles long. Backers say it would buoy the local economy and lessen American dependence on oil imports.

“We still have a huge need for fuel and we’re not creating more capacity in the Gulf or anywhere in the United States,” said Duchesne County Commissioner Greg Miles, who co-chairs a seven-county board spearheading the project.

The rail link has the support of the local Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation and Utah lawmakers. The state has allocated more than $28 million to help launch the proposal and clear early permitting hurdles.

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It’s won key approvals from the federal Surface Transportation Board and U.S. Forest Service. But much like Alaska’s Willow oil project, its progression through the permitting process could complicate President Joe Biden’s standing among environmentally minded voters. As the president addresses heat and climate change on a trip to Utah, Arizona and New Mexico this week, they say the country cannot afford to double down on fossil fuels.

“They’re not following their own policies,” said Deeda Seed of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of several groups that has sued over the project. “The world’s on fire. The Biden administration says they want to stop the harm. So far they’re enabling a project that makes the fire even bigger.”