U.S. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Dec. 10 in a case that, when decided next year, could reshape the scope of federal environmental reviews of critical U.S. infrastructure projects.
The case,Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, involves a proposed $1.5-billion, 88-mile railway line that would enable transport of waxy crude oil from the Uinta Basin in Utah through the Colorado Rocky Mountains and to refineries along the Gulf Coast
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board completed its environmental impact statement in 2021 and approved the railway to begin construction in 2022.But Eagle County, Colo., along with environmental groups, filed a legal challenge, claiming the board analysis violated NEPA by failing to fully consider the project's potential harm to the Colorado River and to environmental justice communities along the Gulf Coast.
I love when these groups use the marginalized groups of people to push their “Environmental Justice” narrative. Instead of pouring resources to make these places better than rather use methods and means like courts to push their agenda and marginalize these people anyway.