Attorney General Phil Weiser urges U.S. Supreme Court to uphold lower court ruling blocking risky Uinta Basin oil rail project

Oct. 25, 2024 (DENVER) – Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser today led a coalition of attorneys general in a filing urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling blocking a risky plan to construct a new rail line that would transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil along the Colorado River each day and affirming that federal agencies must fully consider the environmental impacts of major projects.

States play a critical role in providing important information to federal agencies during their environmental reviews as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. These reviews, the brief explains, are essential so that decisions in major federal actions that may impact the environment are fully informed. This cooperation between states and the federal government improves the efficiency and coordination of the project permitting process and helps avoid costly project delays.

The case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, involves a challenge to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the Uinta Basin rail project. This proposed rail line would connect the Uinta Basin in Utah to existing interstate rail lines in Colorado to move hundreds of thousands of barrels of waxy crude oil each day to refineries in other states. The project raises the risk of leaks, spills, or rail car accidents adjacent to critical water supplies, including the Colorado River in Colorado, and along the coast of Puget Sound in Washington state, where approximately 10% of the Uinta Basin waxy crude could be transported for refining. The project has widespread opposition in Colorado and Eagle County, Colo. was a party to the case.

In August of 2023, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Surface Transportation Board’s NEPA analysis should have included the upstream and downstream environmental harms of the project, and that the board’s action in approving the rail project was arbitrary and capricious because it failed to consider these impacts. Proponents of the proposed rail line now are asking the Supreme Court to limit the scope of federal agencies’ NEPA reviews and allow them to turn a blind eye to reasonably foreseeable impacts regulated by other federal agencies, states, and local governments.

“The Colorado River is among the most critical natural resources in our state—and our most critical water source. The risk to our state and others from shipping hundreds of thousands of oil barrels along the river daily is significant—from wildfires caused by rail track sparks and oil car leaks contaminating the river to, at worst, derailments, and spills. The risk of harm to our state and mountain communities and others affected by this rail line is simply too great to ignore,” Weiser said. “The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct to throw out this project’s approval for not having fully grasped the magnitude of its impacts to the environment. The Supreme Court should apply the letter of our federal laws and uphold the appellate court’s decision.”

Previously, in an April 2023 letter, Weiser urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to deny an application for taxpayer dollars to support the project, citing the project’s risk to Colorado’s environment and people.

Others joining the amicus brief include the attorneys general from Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office | (720) 245-4689 cell
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov