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Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, a case challenging the approval of the Uinta Basin Railway. The proposed 88-mile railway would enable as many as 350,000 barrels of oil per day from Utah's largest oil field to be shipped through Colorado. Part of the proposed route for the railway runs through a narrow canyon along the Colorado River, where a derailment or spill would be catastrophic.
The railway proposal was approved in 2021 by the federal Surface Transportation Board. Eagle County, Colorado, and a coalition of environmental groups challenged the approval, arguing that the environmental analysis failed to account for the full impacts of the railway, including the increased oil production in Utah that would be enabled by the railway, the increased risk of accidents along the railway, and the impacts of refining the oil once it reaches refineries in the southeastern U.S. Arguing on behalf of Eagle County, attorney William Jay pointed out that since the railway's sole purpose is to transport oil from Utah to Gulf Coast refineries, these impacts fall well within the 'reasonably foreseeable' test for inclusion in an environmental review.
While the railway's proponents had hoped that the Supreme Court would use the case to limit future environmental reviews, the justices seemed hesitant to endorse a complete overhaul of environmental review standards. Moreover, Paul Clement, an attorney arguing on behalf of the railway proponents, failed to offer a convincing alternative to the 'reasonably foreseeable' test. "By the courts taking an overly aggressive role, it’s in turn created an incentive for the agencies to do 3,000-page environmental impact statements," Justice Brett Kavanaugh commented at one point. Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to agree, remarking, "I have trouble seeing how this is going to work out as a practical matter." A decision in the case is expected at the end of the Supreme Court's current term, in June 2025.
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Sometimes it doesn’t seem so concrete for people to think about carbon dioxide and methane. But these are very concrete and real changes that have been happening over the past decades. People are impacted and dealing with these changes every day of their life.”
