Kaplan Kirsch represented Eagle County, Colorado, in challenging the federal Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) approval of an 88-mile rail line intended to facilitate the extraction and transport of billions of gallons of crude oil out of Utah’s Uinta Basin. The STB’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 STB failed to adequately consider the project’s “significant potential for environmental harm” in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court later reversed one portion of the D.C. Circuit’s decision. The D.C. Circuit then returned the case to the STB, where it remains pending.