Topline
The Supreme Court dealt a blow to environmental groups Thursday as it sided with a railway company who argued a review of a planned construction project was overbroad—giving a boost to oil and gas billionaires who weighed in on the case and asked for more restrictive environmental studies.
The U.S. Supreme Court on January 18 in Washington, DC.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of plaintiffs who challenged a court ruling over a wide-ranging environmental study into a proposed railway in Utah after a lower court ruled the review was insufficient because it didn’t take the broad environmental impacts of the project—including not only the railway itself, but also the oil and gas drilling that it would help facilitate—into account.
The builders of the railway argued the environmental review went far beyond transportation to look into things like the project’s impact on climate change—an argument opposed by environmental groups, who claimed the plaintiffs are trying to “dramatically remake” federal law in order to allow more construction projects that could be harmful to the environment.
The Supreme Court agreed with the railway company, ruling the National Environmental Policy Act, the law that the review was conducted under, “does not require” reviewers “to weigh environmental consequences in any particular way,” and the lower court was wrong to throw out the environmental review for being insufficient.
Justices’ ruling boosts major oil and gas companies, who submitted briefs in the case arguing against expanded environmental reviews, arguing environmental groups can use the reviews to significantly delay or shut down oil and gas projects.
As a result, the court’s ruling stands to help a number of billionaires in the energy sector who had a stake in the case, including Energy Transfer LP founders Kelcy Warren and Ray Davis, whose company filed a brief in the case, and Anschutz Exploration Corporation leader Philip Anschutz, whose company also weighed in on the case, likely prompting Justice Neil Gorsuch to recuse from participating in the decision due to his long professional relationship with the billionaire.
Forbes estimates Anschutz’s net worth at $16.9 billion as of Thursday morning, and values Warren and Davis’ net worths at $7.2 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively. While those three personally weighed in on the Supreme Court case through their companies, there are dozens of other oil and gas industry billionaires who may be affected by the court’s ruling, though some of the richest are based outside the U.S.
Gorsuch did not give an official reason for his recusal from the case, but it’s presumed to be because of his longtime association with Anschutz, which led Democrats and watchdog groups to call for his recusal from the lawsuit. Before taking the bench, Gorsuch previously represented Anschutz and his company in numerous cases when he was a lawyer in Colorado, and the billionaire reportedly lobbied for President George W. Bush to appoint Gorsuch to a seat on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Anschutz’s attorney wrote a letter on his boss’ behalf, describing Gorsuch as “an exceptionally talented lawyer” who is “eminently qualif[ied]
The court’s ruling is the latest in a string of major environmental disputes that the Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in on. Justices have often ruled against environmentalists’ interests, with major rulings in recent years that include curbing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate emissions, weakening protections in the Clean Water Act and temporarily blocking a policy designed to limit air pollution. The oil industry’s interest in this case comes as President Donald Trump has sought to bolster the oil and gas industry by rolling back climate change efforts and signing executive orders to boost oil and gas drilling. The president reportedly courted oil and gas billionaires ahead of his election by promising to support their interests in office, with The Washington Post reporting in September that Trump privately asked oil executives to give massive sums to his campaign as a “deal” for all the ways he would benefit them if elected.