Public Involvement

DRAFT EIS COMMENTS

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway is available for public review and comment.

OEA requests and encourages the public and any interested parties to submit comments on any aspect of this Draft EIS. OEA will consider all comments in preparing a Final EIS, which will set forth OEA’s final conclusions regarding the potential environmental impacts of the proposed rail line and OEA’s final recommendations to the Board, including recommended environmental mitigation measures. All comments on this Draft EIS must be submitted within the published comment period, which will close on December 14, 2020, 45 days after the Notice of Availability of the EIS was published in the Federal Register. When submitting comments on this Draft EIS, the Board encourages commenters to be as specific as possible and substantiate concerns and recommendations.

On December 9, 2020, OEA decided to extend the public comment period for the Draft EIS. All comments on this Draft EIS must now be submitted by January 28, 2021, 90 days after the Notice of Availability of the EIS was published in the Federal Register.

Commenters may submit written comments electronically or through the mail. OEA will give the same consideration to all comments whether submitted electronically or mailed.

Electronic: To submit comments electronically click here.

Mail: To submit written comments by mail use the following address.

Joshua Wayland, PhD

Surface Transportation Board

c/o ICF

9300 Lee Highway

Fairfax, VA 22031

Attention: Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 36284

Please refer to Docket No. FD 36284 in all correspondence addressed to the Board, including all comments submitted on the Draft EIS.

Oral: OEA hosted six public meetings to receive oral comments. OEA will post transcripts from those meetings when the transcripts are available.

Review public comments received to date by clicking here

Please click here to be added to the project mailing list. Due to a technical issue with the project website from November 6, 2020 until November 24, 2020, requests to be added to the project mailing list may not have been recorded. If you requested to be added to the project mailing list between November 6, 2020 and November 24, 2020, please resubmit your request by clicking here.

PUBLIC MEETINGS ON THE DRAFT EIS

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure the safety of all participants, all public meetings for the Draft EIS are online. OEA will host six online public meetings at the following dates and times; all times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST).

Monday, November 16, 2020, 2:00–4:00 p.m. MST
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 9:00–11:00 a.m. MST
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 6:00–8:00 p.m. MST
Monday, November 30, 2020, 6:00–8:00 p.m. MST
Tuesday, December 1, 2020, 2:00–4:00 p.m. MST
Thursday, December 3, 2020, 6:00–8:00 p.m. MST

OEA will host all online meetings using Zoom. OEA will begin each online meeting with an overview of the proposed project and the environmental review process followed by a facilitated comment session for interested individuals who have registered in advance to make oral comments. Each registered commenter will have several minutes to convey his or her oral comments. A court reporter will record the oral comments. Meeting transcripts will be available on the project website after the meetings. You may register for an online meeting by clicking here. OEA will provide additional meeting information and dial-in instructions after registration.

Click here to view the online public meeting participation instructions.

Click here to view the online public meeting transcripts.

2019 Scoping Meetings

OEA hosted six scoping meetings during July 2019 to provide the public with information on the proposed project and the environmental review process and to solicit comments on the Draft Scope of Study. The public scoping meetings were held at the following times and locations:

Monday, July 15 3 pm – 5 pm Ute Tribal Auditorium 6964 East 1000 South Fort Duchesne, UT	Tuesday, July 16 5 pm – 7 pm The Pavilion at Moffat County Fairgrounds 640 E. Victory Way Craig, CO
Wednesday, July 17 5 pm – 7 pm Carbon County Event Center 450 S. Fairgrounds Road Price, UT	Thursday, July 18 11 am – 1 pm Grace Event Center 1024 W. Highway 40 Roosevelt, UT
Thursday, July 18 5 pm – 7 pm Uintah Conference Center 313 East 200 South Vernal, UT	Friday, July 19 10 am – 12 pm Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown 215 W S Temple Salt Lake City, UT

The first thirty minutes of each meeting was an open house format, followed by a brief presentation. After the presentation, interested parties were provided an opportunity for public comment at an open microphone for the balance of the two-hour scoping meeting. A court reporter transcribed the public comments and comment forms were available. Meeting materials included display boards (link) and proposed alternative maps (link).

SCOPING COMMENTS

The scoping public comment period is now closed. OEA accepted public comments from June 19, 2019 through September 3, 2019. Comments were considered in the selection of the alternatives to be carried forward for analysis in the Draft EIS, as described in the December 13, 2019 Federal Register Notice of Availability of the Final Scope of Study for the EIS. Click here to contact OEA.