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[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire

 

Federal appeals court turns down request to rehear Uinta Basin Railway case

 

December 4, 2023

 

Earlier decision stands, requiring regulators to address issues with environmental report

 

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has turned down a request to rehear its decision blocking approval of the Uinta Basin Railway project, the Salt Lake Tribune reports, leaving the Surface Transportation Board to address issues with its environmental report raised by the court’s decision in August.

 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday turned down the rehearing request from the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, the public partner for the project to build an approximately 88-mile railroad from a remote portion of northeaster Utah to connect to the Union Pacific main line, allowing transport of up to 350,000 barrels of oil per day.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Colorado Newsline, 3/13/24

 

Utah oil-train backers petition U.S. Supreme Court to restore railway’s approval

 

Uinta Basin Railway would dramatically increase hazardous materials shipments through Colorado

 

The proponents of a planned short-line Utah railroad that would dramatically increase oil-train traffic through Colorado last week filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a review of litigation that derailed the project late last year.

 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in August overturned the federal approval of the 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway, which would connect the oil fields of northeastern Utah to the nation’s main rail network, ruling regulatory agencies didn’t properly scrutinize the potential downstream environmental impacts. In November, the court rejected a petition for rehearing, and in January the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its approval for the segment of line crossing the agency’s land.

 

Now the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, formed by seven oil-rich counties in the area to fund and facilitate the rail project, is seeking more state money to take its case all the way to the Supreme Court.

 

 

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