Litigation Could Imperil Road Repairs
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association filed a motion to become involved in a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club against five government agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Regional Commission.
The Sierra Club’s action, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta in November, puts $700 million of Georgia highway projects at risk, ARTBA said.
A separate case, which was decided in March, could effect improvements throughout the country. Both cases center around Clean Air Act provisions that shut the federal transportation purse to regions that fall out of compliance with environmental standards.
“The suit alleges that the Georgia Department of Transportation and its puppets here in Atlanta illegally attempted to use a provision of the Clean Air Act, which allows certain projects to go forward in spite of the fact that a region does not have a plan that shows how transportation activities are going to help alleviate air quality problems,” said Bryan Hager, a spokesman for the Georgia Sierra Club.
ARTBA President Peter Ruane said the litigation could establish precedent that would harm future projects in Georgia and other states.
Hager said a decision would affect only the Atlanta area.
The Sierra Club case took on increased significance after a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. The court agreed with the Environmental Defense Fund, which had argued that EPA violated pollution laws when it grandfathered highway projects approved before regions fell out of compliance.
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