PHL-CAW: FAA Airspace Redesign Oral Argument -- Monday, May 11, 2009
Thomas Sullivan
PHL-CAW 5/06/2009
FAA Airspace Redesign Oral Argument -- Monday, May 11, 2009
Dear Friends and Elected
Officials,
Please see commentary below sent from McCarter & English,
LLP. Michael Kelly is the Managing Partner of the firm's Delaware office and was retained by State Senator
Catherine Cloutier to represent the interests of residents living in Northern Delaware. We thank Cathy and the McCarter
team for all the hard work they have done for all of us who have not had voice
in this process until they got involved. If you are interested in
attending the hearing, please see the attached PDF of the train schedule for the
morning of the 11th.
Stephen Donato
www.phl-caw.org
All:
A reminder that oral argument for our consolidated appeal of
the FAA's Airspace Redesign is scheduled for Monday, May 11 at 9:30 at the
courthouse for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,
333 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC. The argument will last approximately
one-hour, with each side getting 30 minutes to address the following three
issues that were raised in our briefing: (1) NEPA; (2) Section 4(f), 49 U.S.C.
sec. 7506; and (3) Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 750. Those issues will be
argued in that order per the court's instruction.
Getting to this point
and the process for this complex and multi-state, multi faceted appeal has been
arduous. As you are all aware, this appeal involves thousands of constituents
across five states. Many of the petitioners have positions that are aligned with
ours for purposes of challenging the FAA's Record of Decision regarding the
airspace redesign. To that end, the court determined to limit the time of the
appellant arguments on the issues as a whole to 30 minutes. Further, the Court
has decided that in the interest of time and coherence, it will not permit all
40 of the lawyers involved to make an argument. Simply, the Court, and the
global committee, with the Court's guidance, have selected three individuals to
present argument to the Court. At the Court's direction, these decisions were
guided by the size of the geographic area represented, the complexity of the
issues presented by a particular area, and the knowledge that no argument on
behalf of any petitioner would be waived merely because each and every argument
had not been addressed orally in Court. Unfortunately, not only for us, but for
the co-petitioners as a whole, Mike will not be arguing. Presenting oral
argument on Monday on behalf of all petitioners will be as follows:
1.
Attorney General for Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal -
AG Blumenthal will be making the NEPA argument. He is a five-term Attorney
General, and a former state Senator, state Representative, and U.S. Attorney. He
has argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the court that we are
presently before. You can view his bio at:
http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=2178&Q=295440
2.
Larry Liebesman - Larry will be making the Section 4(f)
argument. He is a former FAA lawyer, and has practiced before the appellate
court in DC for close to 40 years. Larry represents Rockland County NY, and all its constituency including
certain nature preserves.
You can view his bio at:
http://www.hklaw.com/id77/extended1/biosLLIEBESM/
3.
Barbara Lichman - Barbara will be making the Clean Air
Act argument. She is an attorney who specializes in aviation issues. She has
argued many of these cases nationwide. She represents Delaware
County, and for purposes of our appeal here, their position is
aligned precisely with ours. She will mention our case specific issue, historic
preservation, during her argument. You can view her bio at:
http://www.calairlaw.com/Lichman.htm
If any of
you are planning to attend, I would suggest getting there early as there is
limited seating. The courtroom itself probably won't open until around 9:00, but
I'm sure it's going to fill up quickly.
Ted
Theodore W. Annos //
Associate
McCARTER & ENGLISH, LLP
mcarter
Renaissance Centre,
405 N. King
Street, 8th Floor // Wilmington, Delaware
19801
Direct:
302-984-6317
Fax: 302-220-4610
tan...@mccarter.com // www.mccarter.com