SALT LAKE CITY — In a blow to its efforts to construct a new railroad, on Jan. 17, the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its approval of a right-of-way permit allowing construction of the Uinta Basin Railway through about 12 miles of protected forest in northeastern Utah, the Associated Press reported. The Uinta Basin Rail project is a proposed 85-mile rail line to connect oil and gas producers in rural Utah to the broader rail network. It would allow them to access larger markets and ultimately sell to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico.
The Federal Surface Transportation Board approved construction of the line in December 2021, and the Forest Service approved the permit in July 2022 [see “Forest Service upholds decision on Uintah Basin Railway,” July 8, 2022].
In August 2023, a Federal Appeals Court halted the project pending “a more fulsome explanation for the Board’s conclusion that the Railway’s transportation benefits outweighed the project’s environmental impacts.”
In the August 2023 ruling, the Washington, D.C.-based appeals court decided that the 2021 environmental impact statement and opinion from the STB were rushed and violated federal laws. The court said the board had engaged in a “paltry discussion” of the environmental impact the project could have on the communities and species who would live along the line and “downline” communities along railroads where oil trains would travel.
The Forest Service’s decision to withdraw its approval was based on the appeals court ruling, but Ashley National Forest Supervisor Susan Eickhoff told the AP the agency could issue a new decision if deficiencies in the environmental impact statement are addressed.
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