In the third letter from Colorado lawmakers to government regulators issued this month, Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse are now appealing to the Environmental Protection Agency for help in evaluating the risks of the Uinta Basin Railway Project.
The railway project aims to create a new railway connection in Utah which would link up with an existing rail line in Colorado that runs through Eagle County along the Colorado River.
The letter says an existing EPA review of the project “had several shortcomings,” including an omission of impacts to Colorado such as “the risk of a derailment and oil spill in the headwaters of the River.”
Project supporters say the Uinta Basin Railway Project would move an essential product in a safe and cost-effective way, but detractors say that product — waxy crude oil extracted in Utah’s Uinta Basin — is too toxic of a substance to be transported alongside the Colorado River with how common train derailments are in the United States.
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