January 28, 2021
STB Extends Uinta Basin Railway DEIS Comment Period Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) issued the Draft EIS for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in late October 2020.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is extending until Feb. 12 the comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed 85-mile Uinta Basin Railway in Utah. Eagle County, Colo., requested the extension on Jan. 25 due to concerns about the Tennessee Pass Line in Colorado.
According to the STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) which issued the Draft EIS for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in late October Eagle County stated “stakeholders in Colorado are concerned that rail traffic from the Uinta Basin Railway, including unit trains carrying crude oil, could travel on the Tennessee Pass Line if both the proposed construction and operation of the U
Posted by Tara Flanagan | Jan 29, 2021
Eagle County got the attention of the Surface Transportation Board this week, prompting the agency to make a 15-day extension on the comment period for a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed Uinta Basin Railway in northeastern Utah. Comments are now due Feb. 12.
The Unita Basin Railway is a proposed link to the oil shale reserves of northeastern Utah.
Chaffee County has joined efforts to comment with with Eagle County and the Town of Avon, bringing attention to the Tennessee Pass Line and how it could in the future fit into plans to deliver oil shale out of the Uinta Basin and onward to the larger rail network.
Here are three things to take away from the Jan. 26 meeting of the Buena Vista board of trustees:
1 Sara Cassidy, a representative from Colorado Midland & Pacific, stopped in on Tuesdayâs Zoom meeting to introduce herself and clear up some misconceptions about CM&Pâs lease of the Tennessee Pass Rail Line.
Later in the meeting, the board further discussed the future of trains in the Upper Arkansas Valley, and voted unanimously to submit comment on behalf of the town on the Surface Transportation Board Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Uinta Basin Railway.
The railway is another project by CM&P that would connect the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah to the existing railway system.
The short line railway recently secured a lease agreement for the line from the owner Union Pacific.
Concerns range from fear of crude oil shipments from Utah to the effect the reintroduction of the train might have on ecosystems and property values.
Sara Cassidy, community liason for the Colorado Midland & Pacific, stated at a recent meeting of concerned stakeholders in Leadville the railway has no intention to operate oil trains across the Tennessee Pass Line.
That speculation is connected to a proposed rail line in Utahâs Uinta Basin which will be operated by Rio Grande Pacific Corp., parent company to Colorado Midland & Pacific.
Opposition to the plan to revive long-dormant rail traffic on Tennessee Pass is growing by the day.
Residents of Chaffee, Lake and Eagle counties buried the Surface Transportation Board this month with opposition to the plan proposed by a Texas-based, short-line operator to begin running freight and possibly passengers on tracks that last saw trains in 1997. Environmental groups, county commissioners and a competitor on Colorado’s Eastern Plains have joined the chorus of opposition, asking the federal transportation board to either reject or further scrutinize the deal.
Chaffee and Eagle county commissioners are weighing in on Rio Grande Pacific Corp.’s push to run crude oil trains on a proposed new railroad in Utah that might lead to tankers of Uinta Basin crude rolling through Avon, Minturn, Buena Vista, Browns Canyon and Salida.