New Jersey Attorney General Files Amicus Brief in Airspace Redesign Litigation

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Steven Taber

On September 10, 2008, Anne Milgram, the New Jersey Attorney General filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Petitioners in the Airspace Redesign litigation currently pending in Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  In it, the New Jersey Attorney General emphasizes the impact that the Airspace Redesign will have on New Jersey's air quality and the FAA's abject failure to address those air quality issues.

The amicus brief "concurs with and joins" in Petitioners' argument that the Airspace Rdesign is not exempt from the Clean Air Act or EPA regulations, that FAA's presumption of conformity for air traffic control procedures is not applicable to the Airspace Redesign; and that neither FAA's regulations nor the record in this matter supports FAA's "fuel burn study."  The amicus brief goes on to state that the issues that face New Jersey as a result of the FAA' decision, including inhibiting New Jersey's ability to comply with the NAAQS under the Clean Air Act.

The brief also mentions that the FAA violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because the Airspace Redesign was approved on the basis of an inadequate environmental impact statement.  In particular, the brief argues that the EIS failed "to adequately inform the public of the noise impacts of the Airspace Redesign."

This brief, coupled with the brief that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) filed on September 5, 2008, provide the court with additional reasons why the EIS must be remanded back to the FAA for further consideration.

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FAA Issues "Written Re-Evaluation" of East Coast Airspace Redesign Record of Decision

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Steven Taber
In a rather odd, unusual statement, the FAA issued on July 31, 2008, a "Record of Decision and Written Re-Evaluation of the New York\New Jersey\Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign Final Environmental Impact Statement."  In response to several requests for supplemental EIS to deal with the congestion management orders for JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, the FAA prepared the "Written-Re-Evaluation" "to consider whether these Orders Limiting Scheduled Operations and the new rates and charges amendments, either affected the purpose and need for the Airspace Redesign project, or altered the reported environmental impacts."  To no one's surprise, the FAA concluded that there is no "significant new information warranting preparation of a new or supplemental EIS for the Airspace Redesign project."  Since this strange document, coming 11 months after the initial Record of Decision and 29 days before the Petitioners' Brief in the Airspace Redesign litigation is due, is a "Record of Decision," anyone objecting to the ROD may file a Petition for Review within sixty days of July 31, 2008.

What remains to be seen is what effect this document will have on the on-going litigation, the GAO report (which was due out July 31, 2008, but probably will not be issued until the end of August), and the increasing political pressure that is being put on the FAA to reconsider the entire project.
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Update on East Coat Airspace Redesign Litigation

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Steven Taber
As is well known, the FAA's Record of Decision on September 5, 2007 (and subsequently amended on October 5, 2007) regarding the NY/NJ/PA Airspace Redesign generated a host of litigation.  Twelve Petitions for Review were filed in three different Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal. Seven petitions from counties, municipalities and organizations in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey were filed in the Third Circuit, located in Philadelphia. Three petitions from the State of Connecticut as well as towns and groups of towns in Connecticut were filed in Second Circuit, located in New York. And two petitions from one county in New York and a New York organization were filed in the D.C. Circuit. Because the first petition filed was in the D.C. Circuit, the Court, by  orders on February 14, 2008 and on March 10, 2008, consolidated all of the petitions in the D.C. Circuit.

Since all of the petitions were consolidated, the D.C. Circuit requested that all of the petitioners devise a proposal as to the format for briefing on this matter. Pursuant to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' March 18, 2008, Order, on April 17, 2008, all of the Petitioners filed a Joint Proposal for Briefing with the court.  Following the court's strict guidelines, the Petitioners suggested to the court that they file one brief covering all of the issues presented by all of the Petitioners that is substantially longer than a normal brief.  Contained in the one brief, however, will be the specific complaints of each of the petitioners. In addition, the Petitioners set out a briefing schedule that took into account the fact that twelve groups of attorneys would be working on a single brief. Thus, the Petitioners suggested that their brief be due on August 1, 2008, the FAA’s brief to be due on October 31, 2008, and the Petitioners’ Reply brief be due on December 19, 2008. These dates and the format of the briefs were agreed to by the Department of Justice, who is representing the FAA in all of the matters.
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