DENVER — Colorado opponents of the oil-train traffic expected to be generated by the Uinta Basin Railway may attempt to use Union Pacific’s soon-to-expire lease on the Moffat Tunnel as leverage in their effort to fight the Utah project, the website Colorado Newsline reports.
The 99-year lease UP inherited in its merger with Southern Pacific — under which the railroad pays $12,000 a year for use of the state-owned tunnel — expires on Jan. 6, 2025. Kate McIntire, a regional manager for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, told Colorado Newsline she has been tasked with “developing our list of concerns, potential opportunities, roles, responsibilities, and ways stakeholders would like to ensure they’re involved in the negotiation.”
McIntire said concerns about the potential rail traffic from the Uinta Basin project, which could send up to 350,000 barrels of oil per day over the Moffat Tunnel line, have already been voiced by several cities and counties, as well as by Denver Water, which uses the original 1922 Moffat Tunnel bore for water movement. Those comments, she said, “were addressed more directly to Union Pacific.”
She also said she expect to hear more from communities and counties along the UP line between Denver and Grand Junction, saying, “… we’re really early in a complex process with legal considerations, roles, responsibilities, and potential opportunities that may or may not be tied to the lease,” McIntire said. “But we’re definitely aware of those concerns, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure stakeholders are engaged.”
Eagle County, Colo., Attorney Bryan Treu told Colorado Newsline in an email that “Anything the state can do to get off the sidelines and participate [in opposition to the project] would be appreciated. We would encourage the state to use all tools at its disposal, including any Moffat Tunnel lease negotiations, to protect every Colorado community along the rail corridor that will be forced to face very real risks of derailment, spills, water contamination and fires.” Eagle County is one of the parties to the legal action challenging the Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the Uinta Basin project [see “Colorado county plans to challenge approval …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 2, 2022].
Ted Zukowski, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, another party in the suit over the STB decision, told the news site, “It’s crazy that Union Pacific pays Colorado far less rent for the Moffat Tunnel than the median price of a studio apartment in Denver. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for [Gov. Jared Polis] to protect Colroado communities, our water, our rivers, and our public lands from hazardous materials spills from trains that travel through the Moffat Tunnel.”
Union Pacific spokeswoman Robynn Tysver confirmed in an email to Colorado Newsline that negotiations over the tunnel lease are underway, and noted the railroad’s common-carrier status: “Union Pacific is required by federal law to transport hazardous commodities that Americans use daily, including crude oil, fertilizer and chlorine, and 99.9% of the hazardous material shipped by rail reaches its destination safely.”
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