Duchesne County Commissioner Greg Miles serves as the Co-Chair of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition and provided Evans Family Media with an update on the Uinta Basin Railway project during a recent on-air interview. “When we won in the Supreme Court,” explains Miles, “they remanded that decision back to the Surface Transportation Board for full approval. We had approval at the Surface Transportation Board before the lawsuit and [with the public comment period now closed] we are waiting for the Surface Transportation Board to give us our full approval back.” Miles says they anticipate that being successful. What else needs to happen? They need to receive the Forest Service Record Of Decision. Miles says they have been working with the Forest Service and are hopeful it will get approved. Another Record Of Decision is needed from the Bureau of Indian Affairs who they are working with closely as the Ute Indian Tribe is an important and supportive team member on the project. Miles says the White House has also been very supportive and are keeping close tabs on the project as well. “We hope to have an executive order come from the White House soon,” explains Miles. “It would ask for a streamline approval for permitting [and] there are a lot of other critical minerals in the Uintah Basin. So I anticipate probably the Executive Order will have other information related to critical mineral acquisition in the Uintah Basin.” Miles acknowledges there are still challenges but they are hopeful that construction will get underway this year, hopefully this summer. Miles says further engineering of the tunnel is needed. “It will be a 3.1 mile tunnel, that is the longest lead time item for construction of the rail project so that will need to start as soon as we possibly can,” shares Miles. “They will drill on both ends and meet in the middle. It will be an engineering marvel.” Being prepared for anticipated housing and infrastructure demands related to construction of the rail will be the topic of a separate news story. Listen to the full interview by visiting BasinNow.com and selecting Public Affairs under the Community tab.
