The Supreme Court quietly dealt a major blow to left-wing environmentalists in a unanimous ruling.

The 8-0 decision limits the scope of environmental review needed to approve fossil fuel projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The case revolved around a proposed 88-mile railway line in rural Utah, but the impact of the ruling will extend far beyond the project in question.

Major environmental ruling

The Supreme Court held that NEPA does not require agencies to consider downstream environmental effects of infrastructure projects.

As Justice Kavanaugh put it, NEPA does not allow federal courts to "delay or block agency projects based on the environmental effects of other projects separate from the project at hand."

The justices held that lower courts failed to give the deference that is due to the Surface Transportation Board, which approved the railway line linking Utah's Uintah Basin and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

The Board prepared 3,600 pages of impact analysis, but that wasn't good enough for the Washington D.C. appeals court, Kavanaugh noted. The lower court also wanted the Board to consider the impact of separate projects, namely, of increased oil production resulting from the railway project.

As a result of the lower court's move, "construction still has not begun even though the Board approved the project back in December 2021," the Supreme Court observed.

Supreme Court unanimous

The court's ruling is widely expected to make it more difficult for the climate lobby to block energy projects with vexatious lawsuits. The unanimity of the ruling is notable, given the tendency of the court to split on polarizing issues like climate.

In a separate concurring opinion, Sonia Sotomayor disagreed with the reasoning the court used, but she agreed with its conclusion about NEPA's scope.

"Here, the Board correctly determined it would not be responsible for the consequences of oil production upstream or downstream from the Railway because it could not lawfully consider those consequences as part of the approval process," she wrote.

Mixed reactions

Conservatives have celebrated the court's ruling, saying it will help end crippling overregulation and unleash energy dominance. Left-wing climate activists are dismayed.

“It is going to grease the wheels for … fossil energy approvals,” said Travis Annatoyn, who was an attorney at the Interior Department during the Biden administration.

“I think it’s going to make a difference,” he added. “You will see courts take a more hands-off approach to reviewing technical analysis.”

Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case. He did not give a reason, but he has ties to an oil developer who stands to benefit from the ruling.