Groups ask judge to shut down airport project

On May 1, attorneys for the Florida Clean Water Network, Citizens for the Bay, Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife asked the U.S. District Court in Jacksonville for a speedy ruling, called a “summary judgment” in the lawsuit filed last year challenging the permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.   If granted, this ruling would shut down the new Panama City-Bay County airport project, and send the permit back to the Corps to be revised or denied.  

“NRDC and Defenders of Wildlife asked the court to halt further work on the project, and we hope the judge will grant this relief if he rules in our favor,” said Melanie Shepherdson, attorney for NRDC.

The groups based their motion for summary judgment on the project’s environmental damages to West Bay and its tributaries they say violate the Clean Water Act.  Among other impacts, the 4,000 acre airport will require the filling of about 2,000 acres of wetlands and obliterate feeder creeks to the main tributaries of West Bay, Burnt Mill Creek and Crooked Creeks.  

One of the main arguments the Airport Authority has made for moving, rather than making changes at the existing airport, has been the need for a longer runway.   The groups say that the Corps and FAA have not given adequate consideration to alternatives, and say the move was triggered by the Airport Authority’s desire to have a runway much longer than needed to satisfy FAA’s newer runway standards, planned to be made mandatory by 2015.  

According to the groups’ memorandum to the motion, the airport’s current main runway is 6,300 ft, similar to many other airports in the U.S., and extending it to 6,800 ft, by making onsite changes, or allowing only a 6,800 ft runway at West Bay, would meet the FAA standards.   A shorter runway would mean less environmental damage.

However, “The Corps simply failed to consider a shorter runway…because the Administrative Record reveals that the Airport District made it clear to the FAA that the Airport District would build an 8,400 foot runway at West Bay site or else build nothing at all,” according to the groups’ memo to the court.    

The Airport Authority has put forth many justifications for moving the airport, including economic improvements for the area, and the ability to accommodate international charter flights.

“By blindly adopting the Airport District’s purpose as its own, without considering the FAA’s analysis of runway length necessary to meet projected aviation demand, the Corps entirely failed to consider an important part of the problem,” the groups said, asking the court to invalidate the Corps permit, on grounds it is “arbitrary and capricious.”

Shepherdson is hopeful the groups will prevail in court.   “The law is on our side here—the Corps never should have issued this permit because alternatives are available that avoid destruction of wetlands and streams,” she said.

The Corps is expected to issue a rebuttal.  Since last December’s court-ordered stay on the Corps permit was lifted on February 1, clearing work and site preparation are being conducted on the site of the new $331 million airport.   It’s work the litigants hope will come to a sudden halt.

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