PRICE, Utah — The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, the governmental body behind the Uinta Basin Railway project, has scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, June 12, on its intent to seek $2.4 billion in private activity bonds for construction of the 88-mile rail line.
The coalition last week approved a plan lto seek the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s private activity bond funding, but the Colorado Sun news site reports that most of the funding in the current allocation — $29.4 billion of a maximum of $30 billion — has already been distributed. As a result, the Seven County request may have to wait until Congress passes a new transportation bill, likely sometime in 2026.
The bonds are only expected to cover about 70% of construction costs, the Sun reports, meaning the construction cost is now placed at about $3.4 billion.
The Coalition had sought $1.9 billion in bond funding in 2023 before pausing that effort while its appeal of a court decision blocking construction was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. In an 8-0 decision last month, the court overturned the lower-court ruling that the Surface Transportation Board’s environmental review was insufficient. That sends the case back to U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reconsider under the narrower environmental standards set by the Supreme Court ruling.
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