On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an 8-0 decision in the case of Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, et al. v. Eagle County, Colorado, et al., 605 U.S. 168, 181 (2025) (Seven County) reversing a prior decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Eagle County, Colorado v. Surface Transportation Board, et al., 82 F.4th 1152 (2023)) that vacated an Environmental Impact Statement compiled by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and the Board’s approval of an 88-mile railroad line to be located in northeastern Utah. 

The opinion of the Court, written by Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, stated that “[f]irst, the D. C. Circuit did not afford the Board the substantial judicial deference required in NEPA cases. Second, the D.C. Circuit ordered the Board to address the environmental effects of projects separate in time or place from the construction and operation of the railroad line. But NEPA requires agencies to focus on the
environmental effects of the project at issue. Under NEPA, the Board’s EIS did not need to address the environmental effects of upstream oil drilling or downstream oil refining. Rather, it needed to address only the effects of the 88-mile railroad line. And the Board’s EIS did so.” 

This white paper will provide an overview of Seven County, examine how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has incorporated it into their orders, as well as potential future implications for energy regulation and proceedings before the Commission.