COURT ORDERS FAA/NPS TO BRING 23 PARKS INTO COMPLIANCE WITH AIR TOUR MGMT ACT

摘要

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 1 ordered the FAA and the National Park Service to produce a schedule for bringing 23 national parks into compliance with the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 within the next two years. The case involved the long-standing failure of the agencies to produce an Air Tour Management Plan as required under the Act. Such plans may prohibit or place conditions, such as noise level requirements, on air tours over National Parks or certain Tribal Lands. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Hawaii Island Coalition Malama Pono (HICoP) petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus to compel the agencies to implement the Act after the FAA and NPS failed to implement air tour management plans for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park. In siding with the petitioners, the Court noted that “For nineteen years, the agencies have failed to comply with their statutory mandate despite Congress’s command to ‘make every effort’ to do so within two years of an application.” Not ing the agencies’ past failures to develop a plan, the Court said, “promises are not enough; judicial intervention is needed.”