John Rogers
Salt Lake Business Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Uinta Basin Railway, clearing the path for a major oil infrastructure expansion across Utah despite years of legal and environmental opposition.
The 88-mile rail line would connect Colorado to Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin, allowing the state to ramp up oil exports.
The unanimous decision, released May 29, clears a major hurdle for the proposed rail spur, which has been held up in the courts for several years after Colorado’s Eagle County and five environmental groups sued in 2022. In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals’ D.C. Circuit sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that the railway’s initial environmental review was incomplete and failed to consider certain risks, like threats of wildfire or possible water pollution.
The new ruling overturns that decision, returning the case to a lower court for consideration. While it’s a win for the railway, the project still faces other regulatory roadblocks before construction can begin.
Proponents of the project say the railway will help Utah’s economic growth and bring jobs to the Uinta Basin.
Justices sided with a limited interpretation of federal obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act, according to a report on the Railway Supply website.
The Uinta Basin Railway would transport waxy crude oil — a type of oil that, as its name implies, is heavy like shoe polish — from the Uinta Basin to national rail lines in Utah, where it would then be exported through Colorado and eventually to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The 88-mile railway extension could transport an estimated 350,000 barrels each day, massively increasing the state’s oil production. The refineries in the Salt Lake City area, for example, currently have a market capacity of 85,000 barrels per day, according to a report at Utah News Dispatch.
Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that the original review failed to consider broader climate impacts and downstream pollution from refining. Colorado’s Eagle County joined the lawsuit, citing risks to the Colorado River. Despite these objections, the court ruled that only “reasonably foreseeable” effects must be analyzed. This sets a precedent for narrower environmental assessments in future infrastructure proposals.
Critics say the decision undermines protections for vulnerable communities, especially rural and indigenous populations living along potential spill zones. Environmental leaders warned that the ruling grants unchecked power to federal agencies.
Supporters — including seven Utah counties and infrastructure investors — view the project as a boost for regional oil production and market access. The Biden administration and the state of Utah backed the proposal, while 15 other states opposed it.
Business groups applauded the decision, saying it will speed up regulatory timelines and eliminate costly delays.
The Surface Transportation Board released a statement cheering the court’s ruling.
“Today’s decision reigns in the scope of environmental reviews that are unnecessarily hindering and potentially preventing infrastructure construction throughout the country,” the board’s statement said.
Utah’s oil fields produced 65.1 million barrels of crude in 2024, a 13 percent annual increase and a record high, according to a recent report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and the Utah Geological Survey. That marks a 110 percent rebound from 2020, when Utah oil production cratered, dropping to 31 million barrels.
With the growth in production, the state exported a record 33 million barrels of crude, most of it from the Uinta Basin. It was shipped by truck to Price and then by train to the Gulf Coast. The Uinta Basin Railway would eliminate the need for trucks and exponentially increase crude production in the basin, which spans thousands of square miles in rural Utah, proponents say.
