“The main reason that the Uinta Basin Railway wants to build this rail line is to take oil from wells in Utah to refineries on the Gulf Coast,” said Deeda Seed, campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, during a press conference last week about the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, an 88-mile railroad that would connect Utah’s Uinta Basin oil fields to the national rail line near Price.
“The rail line would cause oil production to increase in the region by 400%,” she added. “On average, each day, the resulting traffic would be up to nine, 2-mile long trains every day.”
Oil-laden trains would pass through Colorado on the Union Pacific line along I70 and the Colorado River, carrying an estimated 350,000 barrels of waxy crude every day to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Jonathan Godes, Glenwood Springs City Councilman, said the impacts of a derailment in Glenwood Canyon would be catastrophic. “It would destroy our economy and destroy our water, our drinking water,” he explained. “And it would be harmful for all the communities downstream that also rely on the Colorado River.”
But, the controversial railway has not been built. In fact, the project has been stalled until now. It all goes back to December 2021 when the Federal Surface Transportation Board approved the project. In August 2023, a D.C. Circuit Court overruled that approval as result of a lawsuit brought by Eagle County, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other communities, including Glenwood Springs. The August decision was unsuccessfully appealed by railroad proponents in the fall of 2023. Now, they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to overturn the Circuit Court’s decision.
SCOTUS heard the case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The case challenges the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. The D.C. Circuit Court ruled last year that the Surface Transportation Board had violated several environmental laws, including NEPA, by failing to consider the risks of increased oil extraction in the Uinta Basin and the potential harm to Gulf Coast communities where the oil would be refined.
The agency also failed to address the railway's downline threats, like derailments and wildfires, to wildlife, the Colorado River, and public health and safety.
SCOTUS’ decision could have far-reaching political implications. Last week, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself from the case due to connections with oil magnate Phillip Anschuz.
