DALLAS — Utah officials have called off plans for a rail line to ship crude from the Uinta Basin after estimated costs more than doubled to $5 billion.
Officials from six eastern Utah counties agreed to pursue other options for now, such as building pipelines or improving highways for trucking of oil, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
"The economics are just not there," state Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal, co-chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Interim Committee, told the Tribune.
A Utah Department of Transportation study of 26 possible routes for a rail line from the Uinta Basin was completed earlier this year. UDOT estimated the cost of the rail line at about $2 billion. But Van Tassell said eastern Utah officials did more study and figured the cost would be around $5 billion, including interest to pay for it.
The counties of Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Uintah and San Juan formed an infrastructure coalition to work with UDOT to connect the Uinta Basin with national rail lines.
The Surface Transportation Board is the lead federal agency evaluating the environmental impacts for the project and prepared an Environmental Impact Statement.
The proposed 100-mile rail line was designed to reduce shipping costs and expand market access for oil produced in the region.
Hundreds of large trucks now haul oil from the basin on narrow highways to refineries in North Salt Lake. Some trucks carry the product to Price, Utah, where it can be transferred to rail cars.
Uinta Basin oil is often waxy, making it difficult to transport through pipelines if it is not heated. Pipelines are not currently available from the region, but officials said those are under consideration.
With the price of oil falling 40% since June, production in some higher-cost areas of production could be curtailed, experts say.
