The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah Thursday in a ruling that scales back a key environmental law for projects around the country. The 8-0 decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project,

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion proposal in Utah on Thursday in a ruling that scales back the use of a key environmental law and could accelerate development projects around the country.

The Supreme Court handed down an opinion on Thursday that reads like it was written by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, the authors of an influential book arguing that excessive regulation of land use and development has made it too difficult to build housing and infrastructure in the United States. (Ezra is also a co-founder of Vox .)