The north bank of the Colorado River at the Grizzly Creek Rest Area was the setting for a press conference Friday, April 7, about the dangers of the proposed Uinta Basin Railway (UBR) to Coloradans and the entire Colorado River Basin. Organized by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s office, speakers included the Senator plus U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CD2), Colorado State Sen. Dylan Roberts (D-SD8), Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Julie McCluskie (D-HD61), State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco (D-HD57), Eagle County Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry and Glenwood Springs Mayor Jonathan Godes.
The event’s timing was key. Derailments in East Palestine, Ohio, Raymond, Minnesota, Butler County, Pennsylvania, Arizona and West Virginia in February and March of this year have focused public and government scrutiny on rail hazards and regulations. “Moving hazardous materials by rail can be dangerous for the communities and the environments they pass through,” said Bennet. “That’s why we’re here today to oppose the oil trains from the Uinta Basin Railway Project coming through Colorado.”
The setting was also key. An empty oil drum sat next to the podium, steps from the river, to accentuate what would happen if a train hauling crude from Utah to the Gulf Coast derailed at that spot or any other spot in the canyon. The Union Pacific tracks run parallel to the Colorado River. Just a short tumble down the embankment and tanker cars full of waxy crude would be in the water, their payload carried downstream by the currents.
“This waterway brings water to 40 million people in the United States, irrigates millions of acres of agricultural land, and drives our outdoor recreation and tourism,” said McCluskie. “We’ve seen far too many derailments recently to know that impacting our beautiful state is merely a train ride away.”
The UBR would carry fracked crude oil out of the Uinta Basin to Price, Utah. From there, 90% of the waxy crude would be loaded onto trains heading east along the national railway through Colorado and on to Gulf Coast refineries. The final environmental impact statement included in the Federal Surface Transportation Board’s (FSTB) decision to approve the UBR in late 2021 showed that up to 185,000 train cars hauling Utah crude would travel through Colorado each year. Eagle County and national conservation groups filed suit against the FSTB in February 2022. The City of Glenwood Springs and other Colorado counties and municipalities have signed an amicus brief in support of Eagle County.
Officials from Utah’s Ashley National Forest approved 12 miles of the UBR through a roadless area in July 2022. The same conservation groups filed suit against this decision last summer. Bennett and Neguse have called on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to suspend the Special Use Authorization for the UBR in the Ashley until a supplemental review is conducted. Bennet and Neguse have also urged U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in response to recent actions by Utah counties, to consider the risks of approving tax-exempt private activity bonds or any other federal financing for the project.
Chandler-Henry told Friday’s crowd that standing next to the empty oil drum filled her with dread. “When this barrel times thousands finds its way into the Colorado [River], there will be permanent and life-altering damage from the headwaters to the mouth of the river, from the mountains in Colorado to the delta in Mexico,” she said. “It’s all about the river. It’s our lifeblood.”
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