CHEYENNE, Wyo. — In an 8 to 0 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court determined on Thursday, May 29, that environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) do not need to consider the upstream or downstream impacts of an infrastructure project.
According to Governor Mark Gordon’s Office, the Supreme Court ruled that under NEPA, federal agencies are not required to consider indirect impacts of an infrastructure project, including highways, bridges, pipelines and wind farms.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NEPA is an environmental law requiring federal agencies to assess environmental impacts on air quality, water, soil, vegetation, wildlife, education, sensitive species, recreation, transportation, the economy and environmental justice prior to making development decisions.
Governor Mark Gordon applauded the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court limiting the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects.
“This is a welcome decision and fits exactly with my longstanding belief that NEPA has been co-opted to obstruct development wherever and whenever,” Gordon said in a statement. “Its valuable use as a tool to understand the environmental impacts of proposed actions has been diminished.”
NPR reported that Thursday’s case was prompted by the proposal of building an 88-mile stretch of railroad to transport crude oil from Utah’s Uinta Basin to refineries in Texas and Louisiana along the Gulf Coast. In September 2024, Wyoming joined 23 other states in filing an amicus brief in support of the railroad petitioners.
