The company proposing a new Colorado River railroad for Utah oil says its project will persist after a federal judge found its environmental analysis inadequate. Climate activists are watching closely.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Utah’s new Uinta Basin Railway would send thousands of tank cars filled with crude oil on a route along the Colorado River. After a federal decision, the project is suspended, so opponents are rejoicing for the moment. But Aspen Public Radio’s Halle Zander reports that rail supporters are encouraged to keep trying.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUTTING WATER)
ZANDER HALL, BYLINE: On a recent bluebird morning in western Colorado, Gregory Cowan and some friends set up boats and paddleboards for a trip through Glenwood Canyon.
GREGORY COWAN: It’s my favorite place. This is where I can go and turn everything off. And it’s just me and the one in the raft with me and the river.
ZANDER: What was supposed to be a flotilla of protest against the Uinta Basin Railroad turned into a party after a federal judge ruled an environmental analysis of the railroad inadequate. The railway would connect to existing tracks that run along the river here and carry up to 185,000 oil tank cars a year over the tracks. Heather Montross-Cowan is Gregory’s wife. Together they own a rafting company that takes tourists down the Colorado into this canyon, and they worry about derailments and oil spills.
HEATHER MONTROSS-COWAN: We would shut down. When your season lasts three months, losing half is a huge impact. You can’t get over it.
ZANDER: So today’s boaters are excited, but rail supporters are not.
GREGORY MILES: It would probably be an understatement to say I was disappointed.
ZANDER: Gregory Miles is a county commissioner in Utah and co-chair of a coalition of Utah local governments behind the Uinta Basin Railroad.
MILES: The Uinta Basin – we produce a lot of oil. We produce a lot of livestock. We feed America with both fuel and food.
ZANDER: Right now, much of the basin’s oil goes to refineries in Salt Lake City. But drillers say they could produce a lot more if they could ship it by rail through the Rockies to the Gulf Coast. And Miles is frustrated that the judge says the proposed railroad must manage the risks of oil spills from tank cars after they leave the new rail line and onto existing tracks along the Colorado River.
MILES: I think we’re held to a higher standard. Toilet paper made in the Northwest. We don’t look into Georgia septic tanks to see what the turpentine did.
ZANDER: But despite the setback, Miles says they’ll do whatever it takes to move the project forward. One of the reasons the judge found the railroad’s environmental analysis insufficient is that it failed to adequately address the impacts of climate change. It says that if all the oil they plan to send to Gulf refineries is burned, that could amount to just under 1 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This worries the Colorado rafters. Heather Montross-Cowan.
MONTROSS-COWAN: I’ve seen the impacts of climate change, more extremes. What was once a very predictable stretch of river is no longer so.
ZANDER: They witnessed massive wildfires and mudslides that closed access to the river in this canyon for weeks and suspended operations for several summers in a row. And climate change makes disastrous wildfires and mudslides more likely.
MONTROSS-COWAN: I don’t think if you had asked me six years ago if I was an environmentalist, I don’t think I would have said that as part of my identity. And now we’re here, and it’s a very different place.
ZANDER: She and her husband know the rail project isn’t dead yet, but today they and about 30 rafting friends are glad it’s at least stopped for now.
MONTROSS-COWAN: Oil and water don’t mix.
COWAN: But they bring us together.
MONTROSS-COWAN: Yeah.
COWAN: Look at that. Yeah. It’s really cool.
ZANDER: The coalition of Utah local governments pushing the rail will begin work on an updated environmental analysis. They haven’t yet offered a timeline for when this will be ready.
For NPR News, I’m Halle Zander.
(SOUNDBITE OF RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS SONG, “UNDER THE BRIDGE”)
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