UIPA Adopts New industrial Development Project Area

UIPA reported that its Board, in collaboration with Utah’s Carbon and Emery counties, approved a 2,185-acre industrial development project after consultations and environmental reviews to ensure the development aligns with community needs and regulatory requirements. (UIPA Photograph)

Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) on June 24 adopted the Castle Country Project Area for industrial development in Carbon and Emery counties, which are served by Union Pacific (UP) and Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Utah Railway.

The new project area encompasses 2,185 acres across both counties in the middle of the state and is designed to leverage “underutilized rail and logistic assets to stimulate substantial economic growth,” according to UIPA. UIPA noted that its Board, in collaboration with Carbon and Emery counties, approved the project after consultations and environmental reviews to ensure the development aligns with community needs and regulatory requirements.

“Coal production has long been the economic driver of the Carbon-Emery Economic Region,” UIPA wrote in its project area plan and budget report (download below). “That has been declining in recent years. As of 2023, Carbon County produced no coal and Emery County produced 650,486 tons of coal, a 14.6% decrease from 2022 and 16.5% from 2021. Coal as an energy source has been declining since the 1980s. Coal alternatives such as carbon fiber and coke as well as export coal continue to provide purpose for area coal mines.”

According to the UIPA report, natural gas production “remains strong in the region with Carbon County ranking third among Utah counties and Emery County ranking fifth for overall production.”  Both counties produced a total of 110,763,414 cubic feet of natural gas or roughly 29% of Utah’s total output, it noted. “Intermountain Electronics announced in 2019 its intent to increase the manufacturing footprint in Carbon County by adding 289 jobs and $12.5 million in capital investment over the next 15 years,” according to the report. “Additionally, Merit3D, a 3D specialized printing business and Dustless, a commercial vacuum manufacturer, are expanding in Carbon County. Currently, there are plans to construct a new 70,000 square-foot facility in Price.”

“The region currently has over 270,000 acres of development ready land with pockets along Ridge Road in Carbon County and the US 6 – I-70 interchange in Green River complete with shovel ready development sites,” UIPA wrote in the report. “Utah State University-Eastern has a campus in Price that can be partnered with to develop workforce training and development programs depending on industry needs of the area.”

The Carbon-Emery Economic Region is served by UP and Utah Railway, which links Ogden, Utah, with Grand Junction, Colo. “The region has been rail-served for well over 100 years since the Denver & Rio Grande Western (DRGW), a UP predecessor, extended their mainline to Price to take advantage of rich resources of both fuel and coking coal,” UPA wrote in the report. “From there, the DRGW, the Utah Railway, and others developed branch lines and additional infrastructure to service the growing demands of mining in the region. Coal continued to be the dominant commodity shipped by rail for much of the 20th century until demand for coal began to wane in the 1980’s. Periods of economic growth are almost always followed by periods of economic decline. Declining demand for coal as the nation’s primary source of energy has led to declining carloads. The Utah Railway sustained their operations exclusively on the transport and delivery of coal from their load outs in Carbon County to the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) Generating Station near Delta, Utah, until 2017, when the last unit train of coal was delivered to the Provo interchange point for final delivery to IPP. Today, the Utah Railway maintains a healthy manifest business, aided in part by an exclusive contract with BNSF Railway to switch their Utah customers and deliver carloads to various interchange points with UP and other short line railroads. BNSF has rights over the UP main line through Carbon and Emery counties via the 1996 Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger agreement.”

In addition to the railroads serving the region, UIPA reported that there are several rail-served terminals, including:

• Wildcat: Served by Utah Railway, it was originally constructed in 1985 as a coal terminal, according to UIPA. It has since been repurposed to transload Uinta Basin crude from truck to rail.
• Savage Coal Terminal: Served by UP and Utah Railway, this coal blending and loading facility receives deliveries from mines all over eastern Utah coal country. It includes a full loop track that can handle unit trains.
• Railco Coal Terminal: Served by UP, this privately owned terminal has a full loop track capable of handling unit trains.
• Price River Terminal: Served by UP and BNSF, it is said to be the only terminal in the United States currently designed to transload paraffin wax. It also transloads fly ash and crude oil. The terminal is unit train capable and one of the largest transloading terminals in Utah.
• ECDC Waste Terminal: Served by UP, it is said to be the United States’ largest rail-served landfill facility. It opened in 1992 and has a capacity of 300 million cubic yards of non-RCRA wastes. Complete with a loop to handle unit trains, the facility has more than 10,000 feet of track and is a major employer in East Carbon, Utah.

“In spite of declining coal traffic, the Carbon-Emery Economic Region continues to be an epicenter of rail traffic in the state of Utah,” according to UIPA. “The Castle Country Project Area seeks to make use of existing main line track and industrial leads to attract advanced manufacturing, as well as coal alternatives such as carbon fiber and coke.”

“With the Castle Country Project Area, we are positioned to transform the region’s economic base from traditional industries to more diversified and sustainable sectors,” UIPA Executive Director Ben Hart said.

In a related development, UIPA recently adopted the West Weber Project Area for industrial development near UP.