Cities Lose Challenge to FAA Air-Traffic Changes

(CN) - A pair of local governments lacks standing to attack the Federal Aviation Administration's alterations of air-traffic routes, the D.C. Circuit ruled.

Las Vegas, Nev., and Delaware County, Pa., challenged the validity of a list of 15 categories of FAA actions that are "presumed to conform" with the state implementation plans of national air quality standards.

Specifically, the petitioners challenged the revision of the airspace in the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia area and a change in the departure route at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

The FAA determined that both changes would reduce air pollution and were covered by one of the 15 categories of the "presumed to conform" list.

Judge Sentelle dismissed the challenge to the list.

"The petitioners have failed to establish that their injury was caused by the FAA's ... reliance on the list in enacting these two airspace alterations," the judge wrote.

"The petitioners have also failed to establish that this court can, in this action, actually redress any injury to the petitioners that might have been caused by the FAA's promulgation of the list," Sentelle added.

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