Bennet, Neguse call out BLM鈥檚 fast-tracked review of oil expansion proposal that would haul more crude through Colorado聽
Project is separate from the Uinta Basin Railway proposal
John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today
U.S Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse are criticizing a Bureau of Land Management decision to expedite the review of a proposal to increase oil transit along the Colorado River.
The federal agency has been considering the proposal to expand storage and hauling capacity at the Wildcat Loadout facility in northeastern Utah since at least 2023. The facility, which is privately owned but sits on public land, currently stores and transports oil extracted from the Uinta Basin.
The waxy crude is transferred from trucks to a rail line that heads east along the Colorado River and eventually reaches refineries on the Gulf Coast. The facility currently has the capacity to haul up to 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day, but the proposal before the Bureau of Land Management by Coal Energy Group 2 LLC would increase transit to 100,000 barrels per day.
The agency announced on June 18 that it would be conducting of the plans to align with President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring a “.”
In a joint statement on June 23, Bennet and Neguse called the agency’s fast-tracked review “profoundly flawed,” saying that the use of emergency procedures to initiate a 14-day timeline prevents any opportunity for public input or administrative appeal.
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“There is no credible energy emergency to justify bypassing public involvement and environmental safeguards,” the Democratic lawmakers said. “The United States is currently than any country in the world.”
Bennet and Neguse said they are urging , who oversees the Bureau of Land Management, to suspend the review process and conduct a full environmental impact study that “gives Coloradans a voice in decisions that directly affect them.”
The Wildcat Loading facility expansion is separate from the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, which would see 88 miles of new track built in Utah to connect remote oil fields with the national rail network.听
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That initiative would give oil producers the ability to haul as much as 350,000 barrels of waxy crude per day along the same rail line that winds along the Colorado River and the central mountains before meeting up with Gulf Coast refineries.
Bennet and Neguse, alongside local government leaders and environmental groups, remain deeply concerned about that project, which scored a major win last month from the U.S. Supreme Court.听
The rail line had been on hold amid a lawsuit led by Eagle County and five environmental groups, but a unanimous ruling by the nation’s high court on May 29 put the proposal back on track. It is now pending in a lower court, with Eagle County vowing to continue its legal challenge.
