ELR Citation: ELR 20486
No(s). 59-71-A (E.D. Va. Oct 8, 1971)

Suit to enjoin the construction of an Interstate highway for failure of state and federal highway officials to comply with provisions of federal law which mandate public hearings and which require the minimization of environmental degradation caused by federally assisted highway projects is dismissed. The public hearing procedures that applied to the 1959 corridor hearings held for this highway were followed, and later changes in those procedures, a 13-year lapse between hearings and highway construction, and the failure of the hearings to address specifically certain aspects of the highway's location do not undermine the sufficiency of those hearings. The Parklands Statutes and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 are not applicable to this highway, because its construction was authorized prior to the effective dates of those statutes. Moreover, the Parklands Statutes cannot be invoked to protect the parklands involved in this controversy, because the governmental agencies with jurisdiction over these lands have not found them to be of local or national significance.

Counsel for Plaintiff:
Donald S. Burris
Lawrence J. Latto
Shea & Gardner
734 Fifteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 737-1255

Frances G. Beck
1925 North Lynn Street
Arlington, Virginia
(703) 528-5600

Counsel for Federal Defendants:
Irwin L. Schroeder Attorney
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 739-2730

Gilbert K. Davis Asst. U.S. Attorney
P.O. Box 749
Alexandria, Virginia 22313
(703) 836-0880

Counsel for State Defendants:
Stuart Dunn Asst. Attorney General
State Capitol
Richmond, VA 23219
(703) 770-2071

William B. Moore
1427 N. Courthouse Road
Arlington, Virginia
(703) 527-8100

Counsel for Intervenors:
Charles Radigan
1415 N. Courthouse Road
Arlington, Virginia
(703) 527-8100