An interlocal entity called the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (SCIC) is the body driving the Uinta Basin Railway forward. The SCIC has designed the railway to service one lone industry: oil. The SCIC has received $27.9 million in public money from the Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB) to start work on the project. Federal and state law require the board to distribute a portion of royalties from oil, gas and mineral extraction on federal lands back to local communities to offset the damage from that development, such as wear and tear on roads and impacts to public services. But in recent years the board has illegally funded private fossil-fuel infrastructure projects, like the Uinta Basin Railway. Rather than help local communities handle impacts from development, these projects would actually make things worse.