Castle Country Radio had an opportunity to speak with Carbon County Commissioner Casey Hopes about the proposed Uinta Basin Railway which is a project that’s being driven by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition. The Coalition is currently comprised of seven counties Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, San Juan, Sevier and Uintah. Their mission is to improve the quality of life through cooperative regional planning, increased economic opportunity and public services, and sustainable implementation.

“The Uinta Basin Railroad is in the Uintah Basin. They have a hard time getting the oil out to market most of the oil goes to the refineries in Salt Lake but there’s more oil that could be produced and go to other markets but there is a problem getting the oil out; they don’t have rail, they don’t’ have pipeline to rail, and so they have proposed the Uinta Basin Railroad,” said Commissioner Hopes. In getting to this point they have had 29 routes they have looked at but have now narrowed it down to three potential routes. One is the Indian Canyon route which is 80 miles long, then there is the Wells Draw route that runs along Argyle and finally the Craig route which goes up through Colorado.

One advantage of this is that Helper would be the hub for the railway which would bring in several job opportunities to the area. “The other benefit is that it makes a really nice tie-in to the Inland Port. If Carbon County, we’ve talked about this in the past, is the hub and spokesmodel that the state’s looking at having the main Inland Port in Salt Lake and then hubs, with us being the potential energy hub for the state this would be a great place to, and it would help drive the Inland Port to our area because the oil coming out of the basin would come here, go through the Inland Port and then out to market,” explained Commissioner Hopes. The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition is the project proponent and will be responsible for constructing and managing the new railway.

To become more informed or to learn more about the Uinta Basin Railway the public is encouraged to attend a public meeting being held by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition on Friday, June 14 at 10:00 am at the Carbon County Commission Chambers at 751 East 100 North in Price.

To learn more about the Uinta Basin Railroad visit their website at http://uintabasinrailway.com/ or visit their Facebook page.