A study aimed at measuring the cost of trucking oil from the Basin to refineries is underway as the DC Express Pipeline is explored. $600,000 dollars in grant funding was approved this fall by the Community Impact Board to perform the study that will explore the broader costs than just the fuel it takes to run the trucks. “It will be looking at all the impacts including to the roads and UDOTs cost to maintain those as well as how trucking oil has an impact on air quality issues,” shares Duchesne County Commissioner Ron Winterton. “The study is really geared at what the true cost of transportation is for a barrel of oil versus sending that oil in a pipeline.” The pipeline project proposes to run an oil pipeline from Duchesne County to Wellington City near Price to connect the Basin’s oil producers with the state’s largest rail transloading facilities in order to reach markets outside of Utah. If the study confirms the project’s value then the environmental permitting process could follow. The economic study is expected to be complete by this spring.
