Mitch McConnell joins Sens. Romney, Lee in support of Uinta Basin Railway project

A train of tanker cars travels the tracks along the Colorado River near Cameo on May 16, 2023. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)

A group of U.S. Republican senators, including Utah’s Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, are throwing their support behind a controversial proposal to build a railway connecting Colorado to Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin. 

The proposed Uinta Basin Railway would transport waxy crude oil from the basin in northeastern Utah, the highest-producing region in the state, to Colorado, extending existing rail lines by 88 miles. 

But the project was derailed in August 2023 after the U.S. Court of Appeals’ D.C. Circuit nullified parts of its environmental impact statement.

The ruling sided with Colorado’s Eagle County, which joined several environmental groups to sue over the federal Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the project. In the ruling, the court found that the board failed to analyze environmental risks, including the threat of wildfire, water pollution and “other biological resources.”

But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, a group of Utah counties in the area that coalesced to fund and facilitate the railway, and other transportation and energy-related endeavors in Utah. 

The fate of the railway now lies in the hands of the nation’s high court — and on Wednesday, Romney and Lee joined an amicus brief, or a “friend of the court” brief, supporting the coalition’s effort to revive the railway project. 

An amicus brief is generally filed by an individual or group that is not a part of a lawsuit, but has an interest in the case. Joining Romney and Lee was Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Shelley Moore of West Virginia and Ted Cruz of Texas. 

“The Uinta Basin Railway is key to Utah’s continued economic growth by providing a reliable transportation route for goods, creating jobs, and attracting new businesses,” said Romney in a statement. “It’s critical that the Uinta Basin Railway Project moves forward and I remain committed to supporting the investment of innovative infrastructure projects in our state.”

The 26-page brief touches on several arguments made by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, the first being that the scope of a National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review should not go beyond the reviewing agency’s expertise. In this case, the brief claims the review ordered by Eagle County goes well beyond the Surface Transportation Board’s authority.  

The brief also argues that the expansion of NEPA by the courts undermines Congress, while forcing agencies to “study any conceivable environmental effect in an effort to litigation-proof their projects,” which will waste taxpayer funds. 

And, the senators write, judicial review of NEPA compliance can hinder infrastructure projects and create unnecessarily strict guidelines for agencies. 

“As courts grade agency essays and spawn case after case, the Nation’s infrastructure decays, its economy suffers, and its foreign adversaries benefit,” the brief reads. 

Despite opposition from environmental groups and Colorado residents, who have concerns over air quality and other environmental impacts, the controversial project has broad support from Utah politicians, including Gov. Spencer Cox.

Cox, a frequent proponent of permitting reform and a critic of lengthy environmental reviews, reaffirmed his support for the railway in a statement Thursday. 

“Our rural counties and federal agencies have repeatedly shown that the project is environmentally responsible,” Cox said. “If we want NEPA reviews to be a helpful tool for decision-makers rather than a legal device for activists to endlessly postpone projects, those reviews must be focused on the direct effects of an action by a federal agency, not speculative indirect effects. We’re grateful for the support of Congressional leaders and others who recognize both the importance of this project and why we desperately need to reform NEPA.”