ELKO, Nev. -- A federal appeals court has denied an environmental group's request for an emergency injunction to block construction of a gas pipeline across Utah and three other Western states.
Box Elder County Commissioner Jay Hardy previously said the injunction could have cost the county millions of dollars in tax revenue.
Commissioner Rich VanDyke said the move doesn't affect the county's position on the pipeline.
He said county officials are still concerned about an agreement El Paso Corp. made recently with environmental group Western Watersheds Project that many ranchers fear puts grazing permits in danger.
El Paso Corp., the owner of the Ruby Pipeline, has entered into a $20 million contract to remove the threat of litigation by Western Watersheds, and officials are concerned the money will be used to buy up grazing permits on federal land in an effort to end the practice.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed the motion for an injunction Aug. 18 with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to halt pipeline construction.
The same group filed suit July 30, saying the pipeline will cross more than 1,000 rivers and streams and harm a number of endangered fish species.
The case will continue through an expedited briefing, and both parties will hopefully have a decision by the end of this year or early next year, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
He said the center is disappointed the court didn't grant the injunction or address the specifics of the motion, but will proceed with the lawsuit, which he said has strong merits.
El Paso spokesman Robert Newberry said the company is not commenting beyond saying it is pleased with the court's decision and will continue to move forward with the project.
The 675-mile pipeline will begin at the Opal Hub in western Wyoming, cross Northern Utah and Nevada and end at Malin, Ore.
The 42-inch-diameter pipeline will be able to deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and will cost close to $3 billion to build.
Building the pipeline is expected to create 5,000 to 6,000 construction jobs.
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