Supreme Court endorses narrow environmental reviews in challenge to Utah railroad project

The Supreme Court gave a boost to a planned 88-mile railroad project that would transport crude oil in Utah.

WASHINGTON — In a win for business interests that chafe at burdensome environmental studies, the Supreme Court on Thursday gave a boost to a planned 88-mile railroad project that would transport crude oil in Utah.

The court ruled in favor of an alliance of local counties that support the project, called the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, concluding that the federal environmental review process did not have to consider potential broader, indirect impacts.

The conservative-majority court was unanimous on the bottom line, although the three liberal justices differed on the reasoning. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case.

The court ruled that consideration of broader downstream impacts of the project were not required under a federal law called the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the court, said some federal judges have incorrectly applied NEPA and allowed it to be used as a broad weapon to challenge major development projects.