Biden lies and the forest dies. Less than a day after Utah’s Ashley National Forest issues a Draft Record of Decision granting approval for destruction of 12 miles of forest land for construction of the proposed Uinta Basin Railway (UBR) — a project which will almost exclusively haul oil from Utah’s Uintah Basin to refineries in the Gulf Coast — President Biden lays out an ambitious agenda and call to action to conserve our forests. Apparently no one told Ashley National Forest Supervisor Susan Eickhoff, who approved the destruction of a 12-mile corridor of widths between 100 to 1,000 feet wide.
Objections to the Uinta Basin Railway Project voiced by concerned citizens, affected private landowners, and numerous environmental groups have fallen on deaf ears at the federal government levels, including the Federal Surface Transportation Board and now the United States Forest Service. The UBR will destroy hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of National Forest and private forest lands, and flies in stark contrast and opposition to President Biden’s green initiatives and climate change mitigation agenda.
Final approval of the UBR is currently pending from the Federal Surface Transportation Board, and is the last approval pending for the project. Did President Biden lie in his comments at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow? Will a significant portion of Utah’s Ashley National Forest die as a result? Or will the president and his top officials step up and put their money where their mouths are, and direct the Federal Surface Transportation Board and United States Forest Service to deny approval of Utah’s proposed oil train? If the forest dies, it will be because Biden lies.
Darrell Fordham, Lehi
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible