The 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway, if built, would connect the remote, oil-rich Uinta Basin to the rest of the country and refineries on the Gulf Coast. The railroad could quintuple the region’s oil exports, according to a 2021 environmental review.

A proposed western railroad expansion aimed at boosting crude oil production in Utah is coming before the Supreme Court in a case that could have wider effects on federal environmental regulation.

With thousands of pages of briefs filed and two hours of oral argument completed on Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court declared the case known as Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v.