Center for Biological Diversity, et al v. STB, et al

  1. December 21, 2023

    The Biggest Environmental Law Cases Of 2023

    From a Supreme Court decision reshaping water rights in the United States to ongoing fights over so-called forever chemical contamination, lawsuits concerning the environment rumbled through the courts in 2023. Here, we look at the lawsuits that shaped the year.

  2. December 05, 2023

    Full DC Circ. Won't Rethink Axed Utah Oil Rail Project

    The full D.C. Circuit declined to review a panel's mid-August decision throwing out federal approvals for a railway project aimed at transporting crude oil from Utah, rejecting a railroad company's plea that the panel's decision deviated from precedent.

  3. November 13, 2023

    Oil Rail Project Rejection Should Stick, DC Circ. Told

    The Surface Transportation Board argued that the D.C. Circuit made a factually incorrect decision but did not flout precedent when it threw out federal approval for a rail line designed to transport crude oil from Utah, joining the Biden administration, a Colorado county and environmental groups in urging the court not to reconsider its decision en banc.

  4. August 18, 2023

    DC Circ. Tosses Federal Approvals For Utah Oil Rail Project

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday threw out federal approval of a rail line designed to transport Utah crude oil, ruling regulators failed to fully evaluate a multitude of environmental problems with the project, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, wildfire risks and potential train derailments.

  5. May 03, 2023

    DC Circ. Questions Breadth Of Feds' Oil Rail Project Review

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Wednesday explored whether it matters that the various environmental effects of a $1.5 billion oil and gas rail line project were considered reasonably foreseeable results or as merely tangential ones when being reviewed by federal transportation regulators if the effects were to be examined under either label.

  6. February 21, 2023

    Feds Can't Justify Oil Rail Project Review, DC Circ. Told.

    Federal transportation regulators unlawfully favored the benefits of a $1.5 billion rail line to connect oil and gas resources in Utah and Colorado compared to its environmental and safety risks, project opponents told the D.C. Circuit.

  7. December 19, 2022

    Feds Say Climate Review Of Utah Oil Rail Project Was Proper

    Federal regulators say they appropriately reviewed the climate change and other environmental impacts of a $1.5 billion rail line to connect oil and gas resources in Utah and Colorado when they approved the project, telling the D.C. Circuit that groups challenging their decision mischaracterized their "comprehensive" analysis.

  8. February 14, 2022

    Groups Sue Over Utah Rail Project's Climate Impacts

    Conservation groups and a western county have launched lawsuits challenging federal approval for a $1.5 billion rail line that would connect Utah and Colorado oil and gas resources to the national rail network, arguing that the approval ignored pressing climate change concerns.