After East Palestine disaster, new questions for Utah oil train plan

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DENVER – The East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment has drawn new scrutiny to a long-controversial plan to send tanker trains full of hot, waxy crude oil down tracks along the headwaters of the Colorado River.

The plan calls for building a new freight railroad from remote Utah oilfields and through a roadless national forest to connect with existing tracks, where two-mile-long trains carrying billions of gallons of crude would rumble across multiple states on their way to Gulf Coast oil refineries.

The long-planned 85-mile-long Uinta Basin Railway would allow oil companies and the Ute Indian Tribe to drill thousands of new wells to extract the “waxy crude,” creating thousands of jobs while promoting U.S. energy independence and keeping gas prices low. The line is backed by Utah state and tribal officials.

But critics point to the environmental disaster caused by the East Palestine freight train derailment as further evidence the Uinta project poses unnecessary risks when the country is already pivoting away from fossil fuels.

“The disaster unfolding in East Palestine, Ohio is a terrible reminder that train derailments do occur, and that the damage from transporting hazardous materials by rail can be catastrophic,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Congressman Joe Neguse, both Colorado Democrats, wrote in a Monday letter to federal officials requesting further environmental study.

NEWS:East Palestine train derailment killed more than 43,000 fish and animals, officials say

WATCH:Officials: Norfolk Southern train derails in Ohio, no hazardous material involved

What do Uinta Basin Railway critics say?

Citing the East Palestine derailment, critics say the railroad’s own projections show it would create a spill every 13-36 years under normal operations. And this kind of oil needs to be kept warm during transport. It also hardens to the consistency of candle wax if spilled.

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide drinking and farming water to many western states and tens of millions of households.

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BACKGROUND:Just how dangerous is the Ohio derailment disaster? Why it’s confusing.

Other critics say federal permits for the railroad send the wrong message at a time the United States is already swinging away from heavy dependence on oil and gas for fuel, replacing it with solar and wind power that come with virtually no pollution risks. The railroad’s environmental analysis says the oil it would extract would contribute 1% to the nation’s overall emissions.

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What would the Uinta Basin Railway do?

Waxy crude is useful for making a variety of petroleum products, but the remote location of the Utah oilfield makes it hard to extract large quantities of it. Today, truckers carry relatively small amounts in heated tankers about 150 miles west to refineries in Salt Lake City.

Backers say using trains would allow them to extract significantly more waxy crude to sell at a better price to Gulf Coast refineries. The Utes is also proposing to built their own refinery on its reservation in the area. They argue removing trucks from small roads and interstates alike would reduce traffic danger and road damage, and say the railroad is a more efficient and clean way to transport the crude.

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The project would be privately funded by backers, and operate in conjunction with existing freight railroads. But the project may use federal financing to get started, and repay the loans later.

What’s next?

The federal Department of Agriculture has not yet signed off on the project, which needs permission to build a section of the railroad through the Ashley National Forest. But multiple other federal departments have given approval, including the Surface Transportation Board, which noted this would the first new railroad to be built in decades. President Joe Biden has long championed rail as an efficient and clean way of moving freight and passengers long distances.

There’s also a pending lawsuit against the project brought by environmental groups, which argue the rail line would disproportionately impact the Ute tribe, even though the tribe supports the project. Federal officials have until late May to respond to the challenge, which cites the Biden administration’s environmental justice goals as contrary to the railway.

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