A years-long legal battle that could result in billions of gallons of oil being shipped along the Colorado River will go before the United States Supreme Court in December. The case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, asks the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that found there was insufficient environmental analysis of a railway project in eastern Utah. That project, the Uinta Basin Railway, would construct about 80 miles of new track in order to connect oil production sites with existing train routes. Opponents said that expansion would increase the risk of hazardous material spills into the most important waterway in the Western United States. The concerns prompted a lawsuit from Eagle County to halt the project. At issue is whether or not the National Environmental Policy Act requires agencies to consider environmental impacts beyond the immediate scope of the project. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Surface Transportation Board erred by not considering risks to the Colorado River. 

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• Western Slope Now: GJ mayor, Bennet, other Colorado leaders oppose waxy crude oil trains