Dear Supporters, Happy new year! We hope you have been well. We wanted to reach out to share some recent updates. Please feel free to contact us with any questions. Sincerely, Your UproarLA team
CITY OF LA LAWSUIT AGAINST FAA REGARDING BUR FLIGHT PATHS
As you've likely heard, the Ninth Circuit denied the City of LA's petition for review of the NextGen flight path changes at BUR. The court dismissed the case for lack of standing, meaning that the court decided that the FAA had not issued an order that the City could challenge in court. The court did not consider the merits of the case. Our sister organization Studio City for Quiet Skies wrote a summary about the court's decision here.
While the City Attorney's office has not made an official statement regarding the decision, or regarding any further action, City Attorney Mike Feuer said at a campaign event last Saturday that he has been working with Congressman Brad Sherman and others on the flight path issue and plans to make an announcement within the next week. We will keep you posted.
Please note that the City of LA still has a second lawsuit against the FAA pending regarding the proposed replacement terminal at BUR. We will keep asking that the City Attorney continue to pursue all possible avenues for relief from these devastating new flight paths as well. We are thankful for all of the City Attorney's and our elected officials' efforts on our behalf thus far.
UPROARLA'S PLAN REGARDING BUR FLIGHT PATHS
As a reminder, UproarLA's mission is, and always has been, to sue to prevent the "proposed" BUR procedures from becoming permanent.
Under rules of procedure, we cannot file the lawsuit until the FAA completes its Environmental Assessment (EA) of the proposed changes and publishes the flight paths. At that point, we will be bringing the case procedurally at the correct time in order to avoid the standing issue and dismissal that the City of LA faced.
The FAA's EA has been in progress for almost 3 years, and no completion date has been announced. We share your frustration regarding this long delay while we continue to suffer the impacts of these flight path changes day in and day out.
UproarLA and our lawyers have been laying the legal groundwork for our potential case over the past several years and will be ready to act when the time is right. The funds raised to challenge the FAA’s flight path are being held in a client trust account – used only for legal preparation and the eventual filing of the lawsuit. We continue to monitor and act on the community's behalf and appreciate all of your support.
LETTER TO THE CONGRESSIONAL QUIET SKIES CAUCUS
UproarLA was among 62 organizations that signed a letter last month to the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus regarding new NextGen flight paths across the country. The FAA has a NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC) consisting of 30 members, 29 of which are aviation industry representatives. The letter seeks to have DOT Secretary Buttigieg direct the FAA to correct this imbalance by adding some community representatives to the NAC following the NAC's June 2022 charter renewal. Read the letter here.