About forty minutes southeast of Salt Lake City, on the shores of Lake Utah, Darrell Fordham finishes engraving a headstone. While working in this family business based in Orem, he likes to think about his next stay in his chalet, which he built 125 kilometers to the east, in the middle of nature, on a 4-hectare plot. It is his sanctuary for him and his family, far from the hustle and bustle of life, in the middle of the Uinta Basin.
To get to his little paradise you need an all-terrain vehicle to cross part of this canyon. Unfortunately, after building his chalet, he learned of the existence of a railroad project to transport crude oil.
The first thing that came to mind was shock; We couldn’t believe they would even think of building a railway through this steep, craggy gorge.
In Utah, the Lac Mégantic tragedy stirs bad memories and stokes opposition to the Uinta Basin oil train project.
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
A 100-mile (160-kilometer) railroad is being built near his cabin that would carry daily trains filled with waxy crude oil to neighboring Colorado and refineries in Louisiana and Texas.
This is a project proposed by a public-private partnership between Rio Grande Pacific, Drexel and the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition. According to the promoters, the railway would boost oil production from the Uinta Basin and could quadruple the region’s production. Thus, more than 4 billion barrels of oil would be transported on this train every year.
A mega project
In the grandiose and pristine surroundings of Utah, tunnels would also be dug to transport oil through the Colorado mountains. But since Salt Lake City already has refineries, why send that crude anywhere else? Environmentalist Deeda Seed, campaign manager for the Center for Biological Diversity, knows the answer.
We are in an area of federal air quality non-compliance. And because of this, these refineries can only get a limited amount of oil.
This means that the quota of 90,000 barrels per day in Salt Lake City has already been reached. Hence the decision of the project promoters to build the famous oil train.
Salt Lake City refineries have reached their maximum crude oil processing capacity
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
A project that makes the people of the Uinta Basin shudder, especially given the increasing number of derailments of dangerous goods trains. Remember the example of East Palestine, Ohio, which caused a stir a few months ago with a fire that created huge black smoke in the neighborhood.
But in the case of Utah, it is above all the memory of the terrible tragedy of Lac Mégantic almost ten years ago.
“It was one of the first things we investigated to find out what happened there because we were afraid of a derailment. It’s a real awareness of what oil trains can do. »
– A quote from Deeda Seeds, campaign manager for the Center for Biological Diversity
Opponents of the Utah project take the example of the Lac Mégantic rail tragedy as a real awareness of the danger of oil trains.
Photo: afp via getty images/AFP
Darrell Fordham is terrified of a disaster like Lac-Mégantic because the area has no public services and little cell phone coverage. The absence of a warning system in the middle of the night, for example, would be tragic in an emergency.
lawsuits in court
Upon learning of the oil train project, elected Colorado officials came forward to challenge the route. State Senator Michael Bennett and his colleague, Rep. Joe Neguse, have sounded the alarm over the threat of a poison spill in the Colorado River, a vital waterway that serves 40 million Americans across several states.
These Utah mountains would be crossed by a railroad line to deliver waxy crude oil to Colorado and refineries in Texas and Louisiana
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
A lawsuit was filed in court, arguing that the federal authorities had failed in their job with regard to the project.
Matt Scherr, commissioner for Colorado’s Eagle County, says the US Surface Transportation Commission believed the rail line already existed and therefore was not responsible for considering any environmental impacts on the existing line.
But we disagreed with that position, he says, and took our concerns to court. The hearing took place in a District of Columbia court several weeks ago and Matt Scherr doesn’t know when the judge will make his decision, but says he’s optimistic.
public money
Opponents are also angering the project’s supporters’ call for more than $2 billion in government funding for public grants in the form of bonds for private activities. A form of financing that allows for a tax exemption from the US Department of Transportation.
The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last February reignited fears of leakage from the transportation of dangerous goods by rail
Photo: dpa via getty images / DUSTIN FRANZ
Darrell Fordham says the option of providing public money for such a dangerous project is unacceptable, especially since he says the promoters seem to be ignoring the complaints and concerns of local residents.
The only options we have are a few minutes during the monthly coalition board meetings. The venue changes almost every time, usually a day or two before the meeting. Therefore it is very difficult for us to participate.
A discreet coalition
Two days ahead of schedule, a Seven County Infrastructure Coalition public meeting was indeed relocated to something in the middle of nowhere in the Orangeville area.
Without receiving a response to our interview requests, we went to the meeting to attend a rather discreet gathering without publicity.
The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition City Hall allocates just a few minutes per meeting for comments from opponents of the project.
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
Keith Heaton, the General Manager, agreed to answer our questions, particularly about the lack of transparency that residents had complained about. We try to be transparent, but given the concerns that have been raised about the nature of the product, I believe there is a misunderstanding on this.
He claims that in the unlikely event of a derailment, since it is solidified oil, a spill is unlikely. The example we like to use would be like dropping a box of birthday candles and just picking them up because they don’t disperse in the atmosphere.
Deeda Seeds, spokeswoman for the Center for Biodiversity, regrets the lack of transparency of the protagonists of the oil train project in the Uinta Basin
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
The analogy enrages environmentalist Deeda Seeds. The probability of an accident generating enough energy for a flashover would be higher, closer to 50% or more. These very unpleasant candles pose an environmental and health hazard if they escape from the wagons into the environment. That’s inevitable, because if there’s anything we’ve learned from East Palestine, Ohio, it’s that railroad cars derail, crack and release dangerous and polluting cargo.
The last word on Biden
“To date, federal approvals have been issued under the Biden administration and we are extremely disappointed, particularly given the agenda he is publicly promoting,” Fordham said.
While the White House awaits decisions on appeals to the courts, it could decide at any time to halt the project for a number of reasons, but as the presidential election began to draw closer, no signal was given to that effect.
Darrell Fordham will continue to fight against this multi-billion dollar train project
Photo: Radio Canada / Frédéric Arnould
Disheartened by what is happening in his little paradise, Darrell Fordham will continue to fight to protect his property and that of his neighbors in Utah’s natural beauty.
He hopes this oil train project is stillborn. After all, such a project has been in the making for decades without ever having succeeded.
Why should this one work better than the others? he asks himself. He doesn’t despair of one day making a special engraving on one of his tombstones. I would love to engrave “Rest in Peace, Basin Railway”.
Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the Lac Mégantic rail disaster that killed 47 people and devastated downtown. Nearly 2,500 miles away, Utah residents are terrified that a similar catastrophe could devastate their region. A report by Frédéric Arnould.