The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case that could have far-reaching implications for future energy infrastructure projects in the country by establishing the limits to federal agency power over emission assessments. On the face of it, the case is small. It concerns an 88-mile railway that would carry oil and other commodities from northeast Utah to markets. The project was approved by the Surface Transportation Board but an appeals court in Washington D.C.
” The case bears some similarity to one that a UK court recently decided in favor of the environmentalist plaintiffs. The case focused on the issuance of new drilling permits for an onshore oil field in England, near Heathrow Airport. Regulators had granted the permits but activists challenged that approval on the grounds that it did not consider the full spectrum of emissions from the project, only focusing on the immediate emissions from the oil extraction activity alone.