Price Road Neighborhood Ass'n v. United States Department of Transportation

Overview

The Price Road Neighborhood Association (“PRNA”), an association of residents living near a proposed freeway interchange, appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Arizona Department of Transportation (“ADOT”) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (“USDOT”). The PRNA claims that the defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4332 , as well as the procedural requirements mandated by the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) and the Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) regulations by failing to conduct a supplemental Environmental Assessment after the defendants modified the original design of the interchange. We must determine whether NEPA and the regulations require the FHWA to perform a supplemental Environmental Assessment in light of proposed design changes, or whether they authorize the agency first to conduct an environmental reevaluation in order to determine if the new design’s environmental impacts are significant or uncertain and thus warrant further documentation. Because we conclude that a reevaluation is an appropriate vehicle to determine whether a design change will produce…