The Firm represented Eagle County, Colorado in successfully challenging the federal Surface Transportation Board’s approval of an 88-mile rail line intended to facilitate the extraction and transport billions of gallons of crude oil out of Utah’s Uinta Basin. The Board’s approval of the $1.5 billion rail project would have allowed the addition of up to 18 miles of trains hauling oil each day on an existing rail line through the Rocky Mountains within feet of the Colorado River.
In a definitive and detailed ruling, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Board failed to adequately consider the project’s “significant potential for environmental harm” in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act. The Court of Appeals vacated the Board’s environmental review and authorization of the railway.
Firm attorneys Nate Hunt, Bob Randall, and Christian Alexander litigated the case on behalf of Eagle County.