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1. Embed this notice
   Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 30-May-2025 00:59:17 JST Nonilex

   #SCOTUS narrowed the scope of govt-required #environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects, overturning a lower-court block on a controversial #rail line in #Utah to carry billions of gallons of #oil.

   https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-975_m648.pdf
   
Challengers spent years battling over the 88-mile stretch connecting the #UintaBasin in Utah to national rails for the extraction of waxy #crude from one of the nation’s largest oil fields.

   #law #FossilFuels #Climate #Environment #regulations #ActivistCourt

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 30-May-2025 00:59:15 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The US Court of Appeals for DC had ruled for the challengers.

     “An agency may weigh environmental consequences as the agency reasonably sees fit,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote for 5 justices. The court’s 3 liberal members agreed with the decision’s bottom line but on narrower grounds.

     #law #FossilFuels #Climate #Environment #regulations #ActivistCourt

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 30-May-2025 00:59:16 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The #STB, a federal agency regulating #rail, approved #Utah’s project in 2021 after conducting a review that yielded a 3,600-pg report.

     #Environmental groups & a #Colorado county sued, saying the report didn’t take into account several ways in which the #railway could harm the #environment.

     7 counties & #oil lobbyists said the project would boost the region’s economy & argued for a narrow reading of #NEPA the National Environmental Policy Act, the 55-yr-old #law for environmental reviews.

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 30-May-2025 00:59:16 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Justice Gorsuch recused himself, due to ties to Philip F. Anschutz. Neither Anschutz, a #billionaire & #Republican donor, nor his companies are parties in the case, & Gorsuch’s recusal letter gave no reasons.

     But the proposed #railway could benefit companies in which Anschutz has an interest. Gorsuch repped Anschutz & his companies as a lawyer, benefited from his support when considered for an appeals court seat & once gave the keynote speech at an annual party at his ranch.

     #law #ethics

     Mr. Bill repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 30-May-2025 00:59:17 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The question before #SCOTUS was whether an agency had complied with a federal #law by issuing a 3,600-page report on the impact of the proposed #railway in #Utah.

     The case was closely watched because it became a proxy battle over how far federal agencies may go in assessing the #EnvironmentalImpact of highways, pipelines & other projects before deciding whether to approve them.

     #law #FossilFuels #Climate #Environment #regulations #ActivistCourt