Description: Challenge to the Federal Aviation Administration's environmental review for an air cargo facility in southern California.
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Center for Community Action & Environmental Justice v. Federal Aviation Administration
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 12/20/2022 Order Download Petitions for rehearing en banc denied. Ninth Circuit Denied Rehearing in NEPA Challenge to Southern California Air Cargo Facility. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied petitions for rehearing en banc of its decision rejecting NEPA challenges to an air cargo facility at the San Bernardino International Airport in southern California. The lawsuits were brought by the State of California and by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Sierra Club, Teamsters Local 1932, and two individuals. The petitioners’ claims included challenges to the Federal Aviation Administration’s conclusion that the project would not have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. 12/05/2022 Amicus Motion Download Motion filed by Communities for a Better Environment and People's Collective for Environmental Justice for leave to file amicus curiae brief in support of petition for en banc and panel rehearing. 11/25/2022 Petition for Rehearing Download Petition for rehearing en banc filed by State of California. 11/25/2022 Petition for Rehearing Download Petition for rehearing en banc filed. 10/11/2022 Order Download Ninth Circuit issued order amending opinion. Ninth Circuit Issued Amended Opinion Rejecting Claims that Cumulative Impact Analysis for Air Cargo Facility Was Deficient. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals amended its opinion denying petitions for review that challenged the Federal Aviation Administration’s environmental review for an air cargo facility at the San Bernardino International Airport in southern California. The Ninth Circuit replaced its discussion of the petitioners’ cumulative impacts arguments, but still rejected the contention that the analysis of cumulative air impacts was deficient. The Ninth Circuit denied pending petitions for rehearing en banc as moot. 03/10/2022 Response Download Response to petitions for rehearing en banc filed by federal respondents. 03/10/2022 Response Download Response filed by intervenors to petitions for rehearing en banc. 01/26/2022 Order Download Motion for leave to file amicus brief granted and appellees directed to file response to petition for rehearing en banc. 01/13/2022 Amicus Motion Download Motion filed by Communities for a Better Environment and People's Collective for Environmental Justice for leave to file amicus curiae brief in support of petition for rehearing. 01/03/2022 Petition for Rehearing Download Petition for rehearing en banc filed by the State of California. In its petition for rehearing en banc, California argued that the majority’s decision created a new burden of proof for NEPA challenges that was inconsistent with Ninth Circuit precedent and that the approval of environmental analysis that was incomplete and inaccurate where impacts were uncertain and controversial also was at odds with Ninth Circuit precedent. California said the questions raised were of exceptional importance because the Ninth Circuit’s decision created “gaping loopholes for federal agencies in future actions” to undermine NEPA’s procedures and purpose. 01/03/2022 Petition for Rehearing Download Petition for rehearing en banc filed. Rehearing Sought of Ninth Circuit Decision on NEPA Review for San Bernardino Air Cargo Facility. California and a group of petitioners led by Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) filed petitions requesting rehearing en banc of the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding the NEPA review for construction and operation of an air cargo facility at the San Bernardino International Airport in southern California. The CCAEJ petitioners also argued that the case presented questions of exceptional importance because the decision would “bring lasting, lung-burning harm to hundreds of thousands of San Bernardino residents who already breathe some of the most polluted air in the nation,” and that the decision’s harms would extend to anyone near a federally-approved project in the Ninth Circuit, “but the worst of these harms will fall unequally on Black and brown communities.” The CCAEJ petitioners contended that the Ninth Circuit’s decision adopted “a virtually insurmountable standard” for establishing NEPA violations that contravened Ninth Circuit precedent and also failed to hold the Federal Aviation Administration to the cumulative impacts standard established by precedent. 11/18/2021 Opinion Download Petitions denied. Ninth Circuit Rejected NEPA Challenge to Air Cargo Facility at San Bernardino Airport; Dissent Said Project Disproportionately Impacts Communities of Color. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied two petitions seeking review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) environmental review for the construction and operation of an air cargo facility at the San Bernardino International Airport in southern California. One petition was filed by Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Sierra Club, Teamsters Local 1932, and two individuals. The other petition was filed by the State of California. The majority rejected the petitioners’ contentions that the FAA’s geographical boundaries for study areas resulted in a failure to “appropriately capture the true environmental impacts of the project” such as air quality and socioeconomic impacts. The majority also was not persuaded that the analysis of cumulative impacts was deficient, that the FAA’s calculations of truck trips associated with the project were erroneous, or that the FAA’s review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was required to “meaningfully address” issued raised in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, which California argued had found that the project could result in significant impacts on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and noise. With respect to greenhouse gases, the majority found that California had not refuted the NEPA environmental assessment’s rationale for finding no significant impact, which noted that the project’s greenhouse gas emissions would “comprise … less than 1 percent” of U.S. and global emissions. The majority said the rationale was not refuted by the CEQA analysis’s “cursory assumption” that a significant impact would result because the South Coast Air Quality Management District regional emissions thresholds would be exceeded, and that California had not articulated what impact might result from emissions exceeding this threshold. In addition, the Ninth Circuit rejected the petitioners’ assertion that the FAA failed to consider the project’s ability to meet state and federal air standards, including California’s greenhouse gas emission standards. The majority noted that the CEQA analysis had itself found no conflict with state plans, policies, or regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Judge Rawlinson dissented, writing that the case “reeks of environmental racism,” and that the FAA’s determination that the project would have no significant environmental impact “does not past muster under NEPA.” She wrote that “[o]ur children and grandchildren are looking to us to stem this tide of pollution that is contributing to increasingly disastrous climate change” and that “[t]his emissions-spewing facility that disproportionately impacts communities of color and was not properly vetted is a good place to start.” 10/30/2020 Reply Download Reply brief filed by California. 10/30/2020 Reply Download Reply brief filed by petitioners Center for Community Action & Environmental Justice et al. 10/16/2020 Brief Download Brief filed by intervenors in support of respondents. 09/25/2020 Brief Download Answering brief filed by federal respondents. 06/30/2020 Brief Download Opening brief filed by petitioner California. 06/30/2020 Brief Download Opening brief filed by petitioners Community for Community Action & Environmental Justice et al. 04/23/2020 Order Download Two respondents dismissed and motions for stay denied. 04/23/2020 Order Download Motions to stay denied. 03/18/2020 Motion Download Motion for stay pending judicial review filed by environmental groups. 03/18/2020 Motion Download Motion for stay pending judicial review filed by State of California. 03/11/2020 Order Download Motion to consolidate granted. 01/29/2020 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. Lawsuits Challenged NEPA Review for Air Cargo Facility in Southern California. Two lawsuits were filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for an air cargo facility in San Bernardino, California. One petition for review was filed by a local environmental justice group, Sierra Club, a union, and two individuals. The other lawsuit was brought by the State of California, which asserted in comments on the draft environmental assessment that the FAA had failed to mention either the presence of a nearby environmental justice community or the significant and unavoidable air quality, climate change, and noise impacts identified in an earlier California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of the project by the San Bernardino International Airport Authority. -
California v. Federal Aviation Administration
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 02/20/2020 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. Lawsuits Challenged NEPA Review for Air Cargo Facility in Southern California. Two lawsuits were filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for an air cargo facility in San Bernardino, California. One petition for review was filed by a local environmental justice group, Sierra Club, a union, and two individuals. The other lawsuit was brought by the State of California, which asserted in comments on the draft environmental assessment that the FAA had failed to mention either the presence of a nearby environmental justice community or the significant and unavoidable air quality, climate change, and noise impacts identified in an earlier California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of the project by the San Bernardino International Airport Authority.