see below article
lawsuit challenges new PCB airport
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Valerie Lovett Florida Freedom News
see entire article at sowal Environmental issue forum..
lawsuit challenges new PCB airport - SoWal Beaches Forum
PANAMA CITY ? A pair of Washington, D.C.-based environmental groups and a local pilots? organization filed a lawsuit in New York on Tuesday aiming to stop the planned relocation of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport to a 4,000-acre site at West Bay.
The suit challenges the Federal Aviation Administration?s record of decision, or ROD, released in September that determined the West Bay location is the best alternative to meet the airport?s operational needs.
...
?The FAA?s decision to build this ?airport to nowhere? is illegal,? said Melanie Shepherdson, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. ?The law is clear: The agency has to pick the alternative that is least damaging to the environment.?
......
Shepherdson said the groups want the court to throw out the FAA?s decision, effectively stopping the project that is set to begin construction early next year. She said the FAA also violated federal law when it failed to consider the cumulative environmental effects of the airport, including ancillary development spurred by the new airport.
And the FAA could be in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act thanks to recent spottings of a rare woodpecker along a nearby river, Shepherdson said.
...
Fred Werner, who heads up the Friends of PFN, said that falling traffic at the airport highlights the lack of need for a new one.
?Any reasonable growth in demand could be met by expanding the current airport,? Werner said.
....
The challenge, said Airport Authority executive board Chairman Joe Tannehill said, is not a surprise.
....
Tannehill said he does not believe the legal action will be of any consequence to the relocation effort. ?They?re hoping this will be tied up in court for years,? he said, ?but we?re going to move forward; we have no choice. To play their game is going to end up in disaster for this community.?
...
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.
.
lawsuit challenges new PCB airport
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Valerie Lovett Florida Freedom News
see entire article at sowal Environmental issue forum..
lawsuit challenges new PCB airport - SoWal Beaches Forum
PANAMA CITY ? A pair of Washington, D.C.-based environmental groups and a local pilots? organization filed a lawsuit in New York on Tuesday aiming to stop the planned relocation of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport to a 4,000-acre site at West Bay.
The suit challenges the Federal Aviation Administration?s record of decision, or ROD, released in September that determined the West Bay location is the best alternative to meet the airport?s operational needs.
...
?The FAA?s decision to build this ?airport to nowhere? is illegal,? said Melanie Shepherdson, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. ?The law is clear: The agency has to pick the alternative that is least damaging to the environment.?
......
Shepherdson said the groups want the court to throw out the FAA?s decision, effectively stopping the project that is set to begin construction early next year. She said the FAA also violated federal law when it failed to consider the cumulative environmental effects of the airport, including ancillary development spurred by the new airport.
And the FAA could be in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act thanks to recent spottings of a rare woodpecker along a nearby river, Shepherdson said.
...
Fred Werner, who heads up the Friends of PFN, said that falling traffic at the airport highlights the lack of need for a new one.
?Any reasonable growth in demand could be met by expanding the current airport,? Werner said.
....
The challenge, said Airport Authority executive board Chairman Joe Tannehill said, is not a surprise.
....
Tannehill said he does not believe the legal action will be of any consequence to the relocation effort. ?They?re hoping this will be tied up in court for years,? he said, ?but we?re going to move forward; we have no choice. To play their game is going to end up in disaster for this community.?
...
SoWalSally
View Public Profile
Send a private message to SoWalSally
Send email to SoWalSally
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Today, 11:23 AM * #2
.
.