The U.S. Supreme Court today will hear arguments in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, which challenges the scope of America’s landmark environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act.
The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Audio will be streamed live.
Utah’s Seven-County Infrastructure Coalition and the Utah Railroad Company are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court’s decision that vacated approval for an 88-mile railroad through northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin. The decision says the U.S. Surface Transportation Board violated NEPA by failing to adequately analyze the railroad’s potential harms to people, including the climate, wildlife, the Colorado River, and environmental justice communities along the Gulf Coast.
Environmental groups, public health advocates and communities along the proposed route say the lower court’s ruling should stand. Both organizations held a virtual press conference last week to discuss the importance of the case.
“This case is bigger than the Uinta Basin Railroad,” said Sam Sankar, Earthjustice’s vice president of programs. “The fossil fuel industry and its allies are making wild claims that hide the clear health consequences of government decisions from the public. Courts should instead stick to settled law. If we don’t, our communities will pay the price.”
Railroad advocates are asking the court to narrow down the environmental impacts that federal agencies must investigate and disclose to the public. It means federal agencies can ignore and hide from the public the damage to clean air, water, and wildlife habitat that destructive projects can cause.
“Analyzing the impacts of the Uinta Basin Railroad without considering the air pollution and habitat destruction that would result from pumping billions of additional gallons of oil per year is It’s like jumping headlong into a swimming pool without knowing how deep it is.” For biodiversity. “This is a shameful attempt to have federal agencies ignore the many harms that rail will cause to the air and public health of the Uinta Basin and the Bay Area. This is required by law and is critical to protecting people both near and far from this railway.”
NEPA, passed by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970, requires the government to work with local communities, analyze a project’s potential environmental hazards, and It requires disclosure of risks to the public.
“In 2013, the amount of volatile organic compound pollution in the Uinta Basin was equal to what would be expected from 100 million vehicles, eight times as many as registered in the Los Angeles Basin. It’s a nightmare,” said Dr. Brian Mench, president of Utah Health and Environmental Physicians. “I’ve been to the watershed myself to measure VOCs, and the smoke was physically intense in some places. The proponents of this project not only ignored all that pollution; I would suggest that we would be willing to make it five times worse. It is an astonishing disregard for the lives and well-being of people in the basin.”
The undisputed purpose of the proposed Uinta Basin Railroad is to transport waxy crude oil from the Uinta Basin through the Colorado Rockies to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Once completed, the railroad will link Utah’s oil fields to the national rail network and increase oil production in the Uinta Basin fivefold, adding up to 14.7 million gallons per day.
The train would also pass through Colorado and ultimately threaten the health and safety of communities in the Gulf of Mexico region, where the waxy crude oil arrives for refining. Derailments and other accidents along the line could contaminate the Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 40 million people across the West.
“Sending billions of gallons of oil each year by railcar along the Colorado River without understanding the damage from an inevitable spill is a risk we cannot accept,” said John, Living Rivers Conservation Director.・Mr. Weischeidt stated. “A thorough environmental impact study is the bare minimum that must be done to protect wildlife and local communities from this catastrophe that lies ahead.”
“In addition to destroying critical wildlife habitat that supports iconic creatures of the West, including the greater sage-grouse, oil companies and their enablers are breaking environmental laws that chip away at the bedrock of America and, for profit, working overtime at the expense of our planet,” said staff attorney Kate Marlin. In Wild Earth Guardians. “The future of the West’s clean water, healthy communities, and abundant wildlife is at stake.”
Earthjustice and the Center of Biological Diversity represent Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Sierra Club, Living Rivers, and WildEarth Guardians. Eagle County represents itself. Attorney Willie Jay of Goodwin Procter LLP is handling the Eagle County case.
