Attorney General Phil Weiser statement on Supreme Court decision in Uinta Basin Railway case

May 29, 2025 (DENVER)—Attorney General Phil Weiser released the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado:

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision to block a risky scheme to transport waxy crude oil along the Colorado River, right alongside our most critical water resource and posing major risks to Colorado’s Western Slope communities. The court’s opinion allows agencies to ignore the upstream and downstream environmental harms of projects.

“The proposed project – boosted by the court’s ruling – lets an out-of-state company build a new 88-mile railway to ship thousands of oil barrels along the river daily. The lower federal court correctly found that the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, requires such projects to be fully informed of all potential environmental hazards before shovels go into the ground. The Surface Transportation Board must still decide other environmental issues that weren’t part of this case. We’ll remain vigilant and deploy every tool available under the law to protect Colorado’s land, air, and water and hold federal agencies accountable to their oversight obligations.”

In 2023, Attorney General Weiser pushed for former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to deny an application for taxpayer dollars to support the Uinta Basin Rail Project—calling out its extreme risk to Colorado’s environment and people. He also led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing a court brief supporting Eagle County’s case before the Supreme Court. 

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