ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20108
No(s). 19-1044 (D.C. Cir. May 1, 2020)

The D.C. Circuit ordered the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service to issue regulations for commercial sightseeing flights over 23 national parks. Nonprofit groups sought to compel the agencies to regulate air tours at seven parks where they had injured members, as required by the Air Tour Management Act (ATMA). The court found that the agencies had failed to act on air tour applications that had been pending at 23 parks for nearly two decades, and thus had not complied with their statutory mandate under the ATMA to establish rules within two years of the first application. It therefore granted the groups' petition for a writ of mandamus and ordered the agencies to produce a schedule in 120 days for bringing all 23 parks into compliance.