EAGLE, Colo. — Officials in a Colorado county plan to challenge the Surface Transportation Board’s approval of a new rail line in Utah over concerns about resulting crude-oil shipments that will pass through their area.
The Vail Daily News reports commissioners in Eagle County have approved pursuing action in U.S. District Court, in either Denver or Washington, D.C., in an attempt to block construction of the Uinta Basin Railway, approved by the STB in December [see “STB clears path for Uinta Basin project,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 16, 2021].
At capacity, the new rail line could generate up to 350,000 barrels of oil daily, to be moved by rail. Up to 10 crude-oil unit trains could be funneled east on the Union Pacific’s former Denver & Rio Grande Western line that parallels Interstate 70 or U.S. Route 6 as it passes through Eagle County.
Eagle County Attorney Bryan Treu told the newspaper the commissioners and his office believe the board made “procedural errors” in its approval, including its original decision endorsing the transportation aspect of the progress before the environmental report was completed [see “Digest: STB ruling supports transportation aspect of Uinta Basin project,” News Wire, Jan. 5, 2021]. He also said the decision did not consider “indirect” environmental impacts of the line.
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