Movement Against Destruction v. Volpe

361 F. Supp. 1360, 3 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20667, 5 ERC (BNA) 1625, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13044
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJune 22, 1973
DocketCiv. 72-1041, 71-1118, 20634
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 361 F. Supp. 1360 (Movement Against Destruction v. Volpe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Movement Against Destruction v. Volpe, 361 F. Supp. 1360, 3 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20667, 5 ERC (BNA) 1625, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13044 (D. Md. 1973).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Movement Against Destruction (MAD), an organization which opposes the construction of any further segments of the Federal-aid Interstate System in Baltimore City, joined by several neighborhood organizations and individual citizens of Baltimore City, filed a complaint herein on October 10, 1972, against the Secretary of the Department of Transportation of the United States (USDoT), and Joseph M. Axelrod, Chief of the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (IDBC), a division of the State Highway Administration (SHA). 1 Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent defendants from taking or permitting any further steps towards construction of the “3-A System”, or any of its segments “until such time as defendants have established to the satisfaction of the Court that they are in full compliance with each and every one of the following statutes”: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); 2 The Federal-Aid Highway Act, as amended; 3 The Clean Air *1366 Amendments of 1970; 4 and The Department of Transportation Act, as amended. 5

Throughout the proceedings there has been considerable controversy over what the “3-A System” really is. 6 The court has concluded, for reasons set out in this opinion, that it should be treated as a configuration of Federal-aid Interstate Highways and segments 7 thereof, built, partly built or unbuilt, in Baltimore City (plus a highway known as City Boulevard), more fully described in fn. 6. The historical background and present status of 3-A is set out in the chronological statement below.

The complaint was amended on November 29, 1972, to add additional plaintiffs, who sought to represent “the Class of Citizens of Baltimore City, wherever they live, who would be directly or adversely affected by the construction of the 3-A System”. The City was granted leave to intervene and a motion for determination of the class .action questions was filed.

Two other cases raising some of the same issues are pending in this Court: (1) Sierra Club, Inc. v. Volpe (now Brinegar), et al., 71-1118-M; 8 and (2) Lukowski et al. v. Volpe (now Brinegar), et al., 20634-T. 9

At a conference on February 12, 1973, attended by Judges Thomsen and Miller and the counsel for all parties in the MAD, Sierra Club and Lukowski cases, a schedule was fixed leading to a trial on April 16, 1973. Counsel for all parties have co-operated in meeting the tight schedule. 10

*1367 After a further hearing on February-28, 1973, an order was entered wherein, after making the findings and conclusions required by Rule 23, F.R.Civ.P., the court 11 ordered that the MAD case be maintained as a class action for a specified class with respect to the issues involving the 3-A System as a whole, and for a specified class involving the F-M corridor, designating the class representatives and setting out the issues in detail. The court consolidated the Lukowski and Sierra Club cases with the MAD case for the sole purpose of the hearing and decision of the class issues involving the 3-A System as a whole.

The issues set out in the order of February 28, 1973, have been modified as a result of (1) the briefs filed in connection with plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, which was denied, and (2) the evidence, arguments and briefs received during and after the trial. 12

Most of those issues are really subsidiary questions or sub-issues to the two principal questions which the court must decide:

(1) Should defendants be enjoined from taking any steps toward construction of the “3-A System” or any part thereof until an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the “3-A System” as a whole has been filed and approved ?

(2) Should defendants be enjoined from: (a) proceeding with the contract which has been entered into for the construction of a relatively small portion of 1-170 in the F-M corridor and the grading of another small portion; and/or (b) taking any further steps in connection with the construction of additional portions of 1-170 in the F-M corridor?

To understand and relate the chronological statement of facts to the issues, it is necessary to have in mind the procedures which must be followed and the approvals which must be obtained before a highway may be constructed with 90% federal funds as part of the “Interstate System”.

First, a route must be selected by the highway department of a state subject to approval by the Secretary of Transportation. 23 U.S.C.A. § 103(d), (e) and (f).

Next, the state highway department must submit to the Secretary for his approval a “program * * * of proposed projects” that the state wishes to construct with its portion of the funds appropriated for highway construction. 23 U.S.C.A. § 105(a). This is usually called “program approval”, and is a prerequisite to reimbursement out of federal funds for any work in connection with a particular project. A more complete description of this procedure will be included in the discussion, below.

Then, the state highway department must submit to the Secretary for approval “such surveys, plans, specifications, and estimates for each proposed project included in an approved program as the Secretary may require”. 23 U.S. C.A. § 106(a). This is known as “PS&E- approval”. As a prerequisite to PS&E approval for each “project”, the state highway department must certify to the- Secretary that it has held public hearijigs on the location for each project and .must submit a transcript of the hearings to the Secretary. 23 U.S.C.A. § 128. 13 The requirements of § 128 will be discussed below.

*1368 The regulations under the Federal-Aid Highway Act and the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) published directives 14 require the states to receive design approval and authorization to proceed with work, in addition to the “program approval” required by § 105(a), and the PS&E approval required by § 106(a), on each project on which reimbursement may be requested and for which a formal project agreement has been executed. See § 110(a). Advertisements for bids may then be published and construction contracts awarded.

In PPM 20-8 (Jan. 14, 1969), published in 23 C.F.R. Ch. I, pt. 1, App. A (1972), FHWA related the requirements of 23 U.S.C. § 128(a) to the project approvals necessary for federal reimbursement. 15

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Bluebook (online)
361 F. Supp. 1360, 3 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20667, 5 ERC (BNA) 1625, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13044, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/movement-against-destruction-v-volpe-mdd-1973.