The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to curtail a key environmental law in a way that could pave the way for development projects across the nation.

The 8-0 ruling was in favor of a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah that will quadruple oil production there, and will lead to more limited reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The process was already underway after President Donald Trump declared a "national energy emergency" in January and expressed the dire need to expand U.S. gas and oil development.

"Congress did not design NEPA for judges to hamstring new infrastructure and construction projects," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion, calling the ruling a "course correction."

A huge opportunity

The liberal justices, led by Sonia Sotomayor, would have favored a narrower ruling, but ultimately agreed with the appeal overturning a lower court ruling.

Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself because of ties to Philip Anschutz, a Colorado billionaire who owns oil wells in the area and could profit from the ruling.

The 88-mile expansion of the Uinta Basin Railway would connect the oil-rich northeast part of Utah with the national rail network, giving oil and gas producers access to larger markets.

It could turn Utah's $4.1 billion crude market into a $16 billion one.

It's still going to take some time for construction to get underway due to a lengthy permit process and financing needs.

"Disastrous decision"

Predictably, the environmental lobby was not happy about the decision.

"The court's decision gives agencies a green light to ignore the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their decisions and avoid confronting them," senior vice president of programs at Earthjustice, Sambhav Sankar, said.

"This disastrous decision to undermine our nation's bedrock environmental law means our air and water will be more polluted, the climate and extinction crises will intensify, and people will be less healthy," senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity Wendy Park said.

Utah's governor, Spencer Cox (R), called the ruling a move back to a more "balanced approach" to development.

It's nice when both sides of the political aisle can agree on something--especially when they reject environmental extremism and support energy independence.