The Bureau of Land Management approved expanding a 270‑acre oil transloading site in Helper, Utah, on July 7, 2025, after a 14‑day fast‑track review under President Trump’s national energy emergency order.
Coal Energy Group 2’s expansion of the Wildcat Loadout Facility, which had been shelved since 2023, got the go-ahead via an “emergency” process that condenses review timelines from months or years into just two weeks.
“This project reflects our commitment to advancing critical infrastructure while ensuring careful stewardship of Utah’s public lands,” said BLM Green River District Manager Elijah Waters.
But environmental advocates say this fast‑tracking amounts to little more than a “rubberstamp,” sacrificing safety and oversight.
“There is no energy emergency, plain and simple,” said Landon Newell, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Hidden behind a shroud of secrecy, the BLM has rushed through approval of this massive oil‑shipping expansion.”
Since the early 2000s, the Uinta Basin oil boom has relied on hubs like the one in Helper to connect wells with rail networks. The Helper site will add unloading zones, a tank farm and rail‑loading lines to speed Uinta Basin crude onto trains bound for Gulf Coast refineries.
Colorado politicians and national conservation groups, including the Sierra Club and SUWA, say the risk of increased oil trains alongside the Colorado River is too high.
In a letter sent before approval, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser wrote, “Because the proposed right‑of‑way expansion threatens the safety of Colorado’s land, air and water, I urge the BLM to undertake a thorough environmental assessment with public comment and stakeholder involvement under the agency’s regular NEPA procedures.”
This expansion taps into the same Uinta Basin crude at issue in the May 29 Supreme Court ruling Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, which limited NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) reviews to considering only direct project impacts—another tool for fast‑tracking energy infrastructure by curbing legal delays.
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