Description: Challenge to a city's determination on remand from an earlier court decision that a proposed motorsports park did not require an environmental impact statement.
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In re Determination of the Need for an Environmental Impact Statement for the Mankato Motorsports Park
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/27/2023 Opinion Download Negative EIS declaration reversed and remanded for a new decision on the need for an EIS. Minnesota Appellate Court Said Environmental Review for “Destination” Motorsports Park Must Consider Air Travel Emissions. For a second time, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the City of Eagle Lake’s determination that an environmental impact statement was not required under the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act for a proposal to construct a motorsports park on approximately 230 acres of agricultural land. The project included a three-mile track for high-performance vehicles that would be a private club and also serve as a site for public events. In its supplemental environmental assessment worksheet (EAW), the City estimated the project’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and concluded that the contribution to area emissions would be “negligible” and that its “incremental contribution to global GHGs cannot be translated into effects on climate change globally or regionally.” The court found that the City’s failure to consider whether the project would increase air travel to and from the regional airport and to quantify emissions associated with such travel ignored evidence in the record and was arbitrary and capricious, given that the supplemental EAW stated that the project needed to be near the regional airport because it would be a “destination course.” The court also found that the supplemental EAW failed to adequately consider impacts to wildlife. The court’s first decision is available here.