Pam Juliano, Executive Director of Government Affairs for Rio Grande Pacific Railroad, visited the KVEL studio this week with Vernal Chamber Director Joel Brown to discuss the latest on the Uinta Basin Railway project. The Surface Transportation Board’s Final EIS for the project was released on August 6th and entered a 30 day no action period which is about halfway through, explained Juliano. While highly unlikely, the Surface Transportation Board Chairman could call for a review of the EIS as soon as September 7th with a decision announced by September 8th. Realistically, however, Juliano says they will require more time to review the documents as it is a pretty small staff with many projects to review. This means a more likely scenario is just “sometime this year”. Juliano and Brown spoke at length about what having rail could mean for the Uintah Basin and Juliano emphasized that the greatest partners in this effort has been the Ute Tribe and the community. To listen to the entire interview, click here https://basinnow.com/public_affairs.php. The Uinta Basin Railway aims to solve a long-standing freight transportation challenge by connecting the Uintah Basin to the national railway network. The project is a public-private partnership between the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners, the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation, and the Ute Tribe. Pending final approval, the design phase could begin in 2022 with construction underway in 2023.
