Yet another historic achievement now declared evil

The building of the United States into a superpower, as well as a confederation stretching from Atlantic to Pacific, was the result of many actions and factors. Perhaps one of the greatest was the construction of several transcontinental railroads, starting with the Union Pacific/Central Pacific completed in 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah. Railroads continue a vital role in the American economy.

Now in Utah, the US Forest Service (USFS) had been pressured into revoking a permit to build a new railroad which everyone agrees would help Utah and all the States in many ways. Including economic, environmental, and safety improvements.

As reported here, the proposed railroad is condemned as being dangerous and detrimental to the environment (including the Colorado River), the local AmerInd nation (the Northern or Unita-Ouray Ute Tribe), and – get this – residents of the Gulf Coast. (That is the Gulf of Mexico, as in the Louisiana and Texas coasts.) The 88-mile-long railroad would go through 12 miles of presently “roadless” US National Forest System lands.

The excuses, which a Federal judge accepted, and which caused the USFS to withdraw the permit, are both many and ridiculous.

We can point out that TPOL staff is somewhat familiar with the area, having driven through and worked on projects in the Unita Basin of Northeastern Utah for many years. Including recent years, traveling to and from meetings at Price, Utah, where the proposed railroad would link up with existing railroads connecting Utah’s Wasatch Front and Colorado. Indeed, we have traveled the dangerous (narrow, winding, snow-impacted) highway that oil tanker trucks now travel dozens of times a day – often stuck behind semi-tractor/trailers hauling 6,000 gallons of crude oil as they negotiated the curves and climbs.

Much of the oil is produced from Ute lands – and the Tribe receives royalties for that oil. (When the FedGov (BIA) doesn’t steal it.) The oil is very important to the tribal and area economy, which is stunted by the cost of shipping its product: no pipelines or railroads: two-lane highways only.

The existing railroad (owned by the Union Pacific and operated by the Utah Railway) already hauls thousands of oil tanker cars and other chemical tanker cars each year, and the railroad is built along the Colorado River and its tributaries, including the Green River, for hundreds of miles. As a result it has an incredible emergency response system and a very good track record for not spilling oil and other chemicals into the river. (Indeed, one of the TPOL staff was trained on dealing with oil spills on the Colorado River using boats and booms, several years ago, as part of military duty.)

However, much of the oil from the Uinta Basin would travel north and west to refineries in the Wasatch Front (in/around Salt Lake City) and not to the Gulf States. So that oil would not come close to the Colorado River itself but only the Green River.

The people of the Gulf Coast live in an economy built on energy – especially the processing of oil and natural gas – and thrive as a result. This “protection” jeopardizes their very livelihoods.

Now, a pipeline would be the safest, cheapest, and most environmentally benign way of hauling the oil (and also natural gas). But the last decade’s record is also very much evidence that trying to do that is futile in today’s political climate. The defeat and destruction of pipeline projects in the Northern Plains and elsewhere – generally with the active participation of AmerInd tribal nations – has cost tens of billions of dollars.

Of course, one of the primary reasons that so many oppose this is that the project sustains the oil and gas industry and supports American energy independence. Coal is dying, courtesy of the worship of manmade global warming/climate change. Particularly by Uncle Joe’s regime. But that is not enough: we must also destroy oil and gas and the entire industry because it (among other sins) supports the States’ energy independence.

Clearly, if it is wrong to build railroads in the 2020s, it was wrong to build them at any time in history. According to the environists and anti-fascists and those who are enemies of liberty, we must learn from our history and correct it. At least that seems to be the gist of their crazy arguments.

Read More…