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UBR proponents take on the Supreme Court

Photo by Amy Hadden Marsh

The Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, a group of Utah county governments behind the beleaguered Uinta Basin Railway, is nothing if not persistent. Despite several legal losses and recent permit withdrawals, the Coalition is taking one more legal step to get the railway back on track.

On March 4, Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting a hearing of an August decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that has led to a series of setbacks for the Uinta Basin Railway, which would connect the oil-rich Uinta Basin to the national rail line. Oil trains would then travel from Utah through Colorado to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

The Appeals Court overturned the December, 2021 ruling of the Federal Surface Transportation Board, which approved the proposed 88-mile railway. The Court ruled the Surface Transportation Board did not properly consider the potential downstream environmental impacts.

In November, the court rejected a petition for a re-hearing, and in January, the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its approval for the railway segment to cross a roadless area in Utah’s Ashley National Forest.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports that the petition to the Supreme Court claims the Appeals Court decision took too broad a view of the National Environmental Policy Act review and that federal regulatory agencies did not have to consider the impacts to Colorado or the Gulf Coast communities where the oil would be refined.

Wendy Park, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which has successfully litigated against the UBR in federal court, told KDNK that the Supreme Court petition is a last ditch attempt to dodge environmental laws.

"The courts have made crystal clear that the oil train project violates numerous federal laws. And worse, the project is a climate train wreck. It would risk spills and fires along the Colorado River, which is already threatened by drought and climate change. And so this catastrophic oil industry project should be dropped once and for all."

Park adds that the Center will respond to the petition if the Supreme Court accepts it, "So before the court can actually get to the merits of the case, it has to grant review and, and it could deny review here and it does so in, like, over 90 percent of the cases. So, the odds are not great for the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition."

Park says it could take several months before the Supreme Court decides whether or not to take the case.

Amy Hadden Marsh’s reporting goes back to 1990 and includes magazine, radio, newspaper and online work. She has previously served as reporter and news director for KDNK Community Radio, earning Edward R. Murrow and Colorado Broadcasters Association awards for her work. She also writes for Aspen Journalism and received a Society of Professional Journalists’ Top of the Rockies award in 2023 for a story on the Uinta Basin Railway. Her photography has also won awards. She holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from Regis University.