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uinta basin railway
'Devastating Loss for Our Wild Places': Supreme Court Attacks Bedrock Environmental Law
"The Trump administration will treat this decision as an invitation to ignore environmental concerns as it tries to promote fossil fuels, kill off renewable energy, and destroy sensible pollution regulations."
May 29, 2025
In a 8-0 ruling on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court not only reversed a block on a proposed oil train in Utah but also narrowed a landmark federal environmental law, sparking intense alarm about what the ruling will mean for communities and all living things across the country.
"Today's decision undermines decades of legal precedent that told federal agencies to look before they leap when approving projects that could harm communities and the environment," said Earthjustice senior vice president of program Sam Sankar in a statement. "The Trump administration will treat this decision as an invitation to ignore environmental concerns as it tries to promote fossil fuels, kill off renewable energy, and destroy sensible pollution regulations."
Since the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law in 1970 by Republican then-President Richard Nixon, it has become a key target for GOP policymakers aligned with the planet-wrecking fossil fuel industry, including President Donald Trump, who swiftly took aim at the law after returning to office in January.
"We urgently need to strengthen laws like NEPA, not weaken or narrow them, so that we can prioritize the health of people over polluters and corporate greed."
NEPA requires federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for certain infrastructure projects. In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tossed both an EIS for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway and the U. S. Surface Transportation Board's approval of the project, which would connect Utah's oil fields to the national rail network.
After hearing arguments for Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County in December, the nation's highest court reversed that decision on Thursday, continuing a trend of rulings slammed by environmentalists as gifts to corporate polluters.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself without explanation. Politiconoted that "it followed a public pressure campaign from environmental groups and Democrats who argued his close connections to the owner of oil and gas producer Anschutz—which filed a brief in the case saying NEPA's scope was critical to developing oil and gas reserves—disqualified him."
Justice Brett Kavanagh delivered the opinion, joined by the other right-wingers who participated in the case. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion, joined by the other two liberals.
Kavanaugh wrote for the majority that "the D. C. Circuit failed to afford the board the substantial judicial deference required in NEPA cases and incorrectly interpreted NEPA to require the board to consider the environmental effects of upstream and downstream projects that are separate in time or place from the Uinta Basin Railway."
Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, refuses to join Kavanaugh's majority opinion, saying it "unnecessarily" grounds its analysis "largely in matters of policy." (It's clear that Kavanaugh wants to weaken NEPA's restrictions on energy permitting.) www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
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— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) May 29, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Environmental and public health advocates were quick to warn of the impacts of not only this 88-mile rail project, if completed, but also the decision more broadly.
"This decision is terrible news for the entire Colorado River Basin," said John Weisheit, conservation director at Living Rivers. "To avoid the pending collapse of the Colorado River, we have to immediately reduce water consumption by 25% and cut carbon emissions by 50% by the end of this decade. Our federal decision-makers must deny any project that counters these objectives. The Uinta Basin Railway unquestionably falls into that category and should never see the light of day."
Critics of the ruling are worried about increased oil extraction in Utah as well as additional refining in Gulf of Mexico communities.
"Regrettably, the Supreme Court has scored one for the oil companies who don't want you to look too closely at the harm their product will do to Black and Brown communities in Cancer Alley," said Sierra Club senior attorney Nathaniel Shoaff. "Our bedrock environmental laws, like NEPA, are meant to ensure people are protected from corporate polluters."
"Fossil fuel infrastructure projects do not exist in a vacuum and have far-reaching impacts on communities, especially those on the frontlines of climate change or those who face serious health harms from increased pollution," Shoaff stressed.
"The last thing we need is another climate bomb on wheels that the communities along its proposed route say they don't want."
Center for Biological Diversity senior attorney Wendy Park declared that "the last thing we need is another climate bomb on wheels that the communities along its proposed route say they don't want," and vowed to "keep fighting to make sure this railway is never built."
Park also looked beyond the train project, warning that "this disastrous decision to undermine our nation's bedrock environmental law means our air and water will be more polluted, the climate and extinction crises will intensify, and people will be less healthy."
WildEarth Guardians staff attorney Katherine Merlin similarly emphasized that "today's decision is a devastating loss for our wild places, our wild rivers, and for all of the human and nonhuman communities that depend on a clean environment and stable climate."
The ruling comes as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are working to boost planet-heating fossil fuels, ignoring scientists' warnings about the worsening climate emergency.
"After the hottest year on record, when the U.S. should be improving environmental safeguards and empowering frontline communities, this decision is a giant step backwards," said Ashfaq Khalfan, Oxfam America's director of climate justice. "Everyone deserves to live and work in communities with clean air and safe drinking water. We urgently need to strengthen laws like NEPA, not weaken or narrow them, so that we can prioritize the health of people over polluters and corporate greed."
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US Appeals Court Halts 'Climate Bomb' Oil Rail Project Over Environmental Concerns
"This is an enormous victory for our shared climate, the Colorado River and the communities that rely on it for clean water, abundant fish and recreation," said one campaigner.
Aug 18, 2023
U.S. Green groups and some Democratic politicians on Friday celebrated a federal appellate court's ruling that pauses the development of the Uinta Basin Railway, a project that would connect Utah's oil fields to the national railway network.
"The court's rejection of this oil railway and its ensuing environmental damage is a victory for the climate, public health, and wild landscapes," said WildEarth Guardians legal director Samantha Ruscavage-Barz. "The public shouldn't have to shoulder the costs of the railway's environmental degradation while the fossil fuel industry reaps unprecedented profits from dirty energy."
Although the ruling does not necessarily permanently block the project—which would cut through tribal land and a national forest—Carly Ferro, executive director of the Utah Sierra Club, similarly called the decision "a win for communities across the West and is critical for ensuring a sustainable climate future."
"From its onset, this project's process has been reckless and egregious. But today, the people and the planet prevailed," Ferro added. "We will continue to advocate for accountable processes to ensure a healthy environment where communities can live safely, and this win will help make that possible."
A coalition of advocacy groups and Eagle County, Colorado launched legal challenges to the project last year. Ruling on the consolidated case Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) December 2021 approval of the railway, along with the federal agency's related environmental impact statement (EIS) as well as a biological opinion (BiOp) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The panel found "numerous" violations of the National Environmental Policy Act "arising from the EIS, including the failures to: (1) quantify reasonably foreseeable upstream and downstream impacts on vegetation and special-status species of increased drilling in the Uinta Basin and increased oil train traffic along the Union Pacific Line, as well as the effects of oil refining on environmental justice communities the Gulf Coast; (2) take a hard look at wildfire risk as well as impacts on water resources downline; and (3) explain the lack of available information on local accident risk" in accordance with federal law, wrote Judge Robert Wilkins. "The EIS is further called into question since the BiOp failed to assess impacts on the Colorado River fishes downline."
As the The Colorado Sunreported Friday:
The Surface Transportation Board argued it did not have jurisdiction to address or enforce mitigation of impacts outside the 88-mile rail corridor.
The appeals court ordered the Surface Transportation Board to redo its environmental review of the project. But the court did not agree with Eagle County and the environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity that the Uinta Basin Railway could lead to the opening of the long-dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Dotsero and Cañon City.
The court also did not wholly agree that the transportation board failed to adequately consider the climate impacts of burning the new crude, which could increase pollution and account for 1% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.
Still, the Center for Biological Diversity celebrated the decision, with senior campaigner Deeda Seed saying that "this is an enormous victory for our shared climate, the Colorado River, and the communities that rely on it for clean water, abundant fish, and recreation."
"The Uinta Basin Railway is a dangerous, polluting boondoggle that threatens people, wildlife, and our hope for a livable planet," Seed added. "The Biden administration needs to dismantle this climate bomb and throw it in the trash can where it belongs."
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Congressman Joe Neguse, both Colorado Democrats, also welcomed the ruling in a joint statement.
"This ruling is excellent news," the pair said. "The approval process for the Uinta Basin Railway Project has been gravely insufficient, and did not properly account for the project's full risks to Colorado's communities, water, and environment. A new review must account for all harmful effects of this project on our state, including potential oil spills along the Colorado River and increased wildfire risk."
"An oil train derailment in the headwaters of the Colorado River would be catastrophic—not only to Colorado, but the 40 million Americans who rely on it," they added. "We're grateful for the leadership of Eagle County and the many organizations and local officials around Colorado who made their voices heard."
Speaking to Real Vail on Friday, Eagle County attorney Bryan Treu pointed to a Norfolk Southern that was carrying hazardous material when it derailed and burned in East Palestine, Ohio in February—an incident that has since fueled calls across the country for boosting rail safety rules and blocking projects like the Uinta Basin Railway.
"It seems like we read every month this last year about a derailment somewhere," said Treu. "So there's a lot to look at that. The circumstances have changed, and as this goes back to the Surface Transportation Board, they're going to be looking at all those things."
Reutersreported that while the STB declined to comment, "a spokesperson for the project—a public-private partnership that includes the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, investor DHIP Group, and rail operator Rio Grande Pacific Corp—said developers are 'ready, willing, and capable of working' with regulators during additional reviews."
Meanwhile, some locals hope Friday's ruling is a step toward killing the project. Jonny Vasic, executive director for Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said that "the people of Utah can breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the Uinta Basin Railway."
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Montana Train Derailment Raises Fears of Similar Disasters on Proposed Uinta Basin Railway
The Stillwater County, Montana sheriff's office said it was a "great stroke of luck" that none of the train cars were carrying oil that would have polluted the Yellowstone River.
Jun 25, 2023
A freight train derailment and the collapse of a bridge over the Yellowstone River in Montana on Saturday raised alarm as several cars carrying asphalt and molten sulfur tumbled into the river, prompting officials to take emergency measures at nearby water plants.
The incident also brought to mind for some critics the Biden administration's plan to move forward with a railway project along the Colorado River—one that could place the drinking water of 40 million people at risk as trains transport crude oil from eastern Utah's Uinta Basin to national rail lines.
The substances solidified quickly once exposed to the cold water in the Yellowstone River on Saturday, and Stillwater County emergency services chief David Stamey told The New York Times that the solidification could limit the potential harmful effects to the environment.
Sulfur is commonly used as an insecticide, fungicide, and rodenticide, and is often used in fertilizers.
As a precaution, water treatment plant officials in Yellowstone and Stillwater Counties temporarily shut down water intake until the material had flowed past Billings, which lies about an hour's drive east of the derailment site. Authorities also asked residents to conserve water. About 167,000 people live in Yellowstone County while roughly 9,000 people live in Stillwater.
The freight train was operated by Montana Rail Link, whose spokesperson told the Times that two cars were also carrying sodium hydro sulfate, which can cause serious eye damage on exposure.
"Neither of these cars have entered the water and initial air quality assessments have been performed and confirmed that there is no release associated with the two cars," the railroad said in a statement.
Ten cars in total derailed, the Times reported.
Montana Rail Link said no one was injured in the accident.
Robert Bea, a retired engineering professor at the University of California Berkeley, told the Associated Press that recent heavy rains may have played a role in the collapse of the bridge.
"The high water flow translates to high forces acting directly on the pier and, importantly, on the river bottom," Bea told the outlet. "You can have erosion or scour that removes support from the foundation. High forces translate to a high likelihood of a structural or foundation failure that could act as a trigger to initiate the accident."
The cause of the derailment and collapse are being investigated.
To Ted Zukoski, a senior attorney in the Center for Biological Diversity's public lands program, the accident raised concerns about similar potential disasters along the Uinta Basin Railway, which could carry as many as five two-mile-long crude oil trains more than 100 miles each day alongside the Colorado River's headwaters.
“For about 100 miles of the railroad, it is close enough to the river that if you're sitting in a raft in the middle of it, you could throw a rock and hit the railroad, Zukoski told Lever News last month.
As Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Joe Neguse, all of Colorado, told U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a letter earlier this year urging him to oppose the project, the public-private alliance behind the Uinta Basin Railway appears to have "no plan to mitigate the harm of a potential accident or derailment in Colorado, which could be particularly difficult to address given [Colorado's] mountainous terrain."
In addition to worsening the climate crisis by supporting the increased production of 350,000 barrels of oil per day, the Utah Clean Infrastructure Coalition has said in a fact sheet on the project, "the heavy, long oil tanker trains used to transport crude oil pose greater risks of derailment and spills than other freight trains, and an increased risk of fire due to derailment and spilling of combustible oil."
In Montana on Saturday, the Stillwater County Sheriff's office said it was a "great stroke of luck" that none of the train cars were carrying oil that would have polluted the Yellowstone.
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