City of Los Angeles v. FAA

“NEPA requires that a federal agency consider every significant aspect of the environmental impact of a proposed action … [and] inform the public that it has indeed considered environmental concerns in its decision-making process.” Earth Island Inst. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 351 F.3d 1291, 1300 (9th Cir. 2003).

In 2015, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority reached an agreement with the City of Burbank to construct a new terminal at the Bob Hope “Hollywood Burbank” Airport. The existing terminal no longer complied with FAA standards. In accordance with the National Environmental Impact Policy Act (NEPA), Respondent conducted and issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in May 2021. Petitioner then sought judicial review under the FAA Authorization Act of 1994. Petitioner challenged the FEIS on multiple grounds; however, the Court rejected all its arguments except one. “NEPA requires that a federal agency consider every significant aspect of the environmental impact of a proposed action … [and] inform the public that it has indeed considered environmental concerns in its decision-making process.” Earth Island Inst. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 351 F.3d 1291, 1300 (9th Cir. 2003). The Court held that Respondent did not take a “hard look” at the noise impacts to the surrounding community during the five-year construction timeframe as required by NEPA. The Court reasoned that because Respondent’s noise analysis rested on the assumption that multiple pieces of construction equipment would not be operated at the same time during construction, Respondent failed to consider the “cumulative impacts” on the surrounding environment as required by NEPA. The Court stated that “[o]n remand, the agency must revisit its cumulative impacts analysis after taking a hard look at noise impacts from construction equipment.” GRANTED in part and REMANDED to the agency.