John,

Yesterday the U.S. Forest Service approved a plan that would allow oil trains more than a mile and a half long to be routed through a protected roadless area in the Ashley National Forest. All with the goal of massively increasing oil production in the Uinta Basin of Utah and transporting it to refineries in Gulf Coast communities already suffering from fossil fuel pollution. 

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, can stop this in its tracks. Tell him to say no to this dirty and dangerous project.

Along the way, the rail line would strip bare and pave over 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat, including crucial areas pronghorns and mule deer need to survive. In Utah's Emma Park, bulldozers and train traffic would drive imperiled greater sage grouse out of their mating and nesting grounds. 

Fossil fuel production in Utah’s Uinta Basin would be ramped up by billions of gallons of oil annually. Burning that oil will create more carbon pollution than what’s produced by the nation’s three largest coal-fired power plants combined. This dangerous plan would send oil trains along the Colorado River corridor for hundreds of miles, increasing the risk of fires and oil spills into waters relied upon by 40 million people in the West.

Sec. Vilsack has pledged to take bold action to address the climate crisis. Tell him to follow through by rejecting the Uinta Basin Railway.