Colorado officials and environmentalists warned the Supreme Court last week of the real-world consequences of limiting the scope of federal environmental reviews.
Their concerns were laid out in two briefs filed Friday in the closely watched case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, which is scheduled for oil arguments in December. The coalition is challenging a court-ordered National Environmental Policy Act review of the Uinta Basin Railway, a project designed to carry oil out of the Utah region to coastal ports or refineries.
The justices’ ruling in the case could have important implications for how agencies can account for the climate risks of new energy projects. Supporters of the railway project want the justices to clarify whether NEPA analyses should include environmental harms that may occur far from the project under review and that an agency does not have regulatory authority to address.
“Petitioners are asking this Court to impose limits on NEPA that have no basis in its text whatsoever,” officials from Eagle County, Colorado — who have fought against the railway project — wrote in their brief.
