The court of appeals granted a petition for review and remanded the action for further proceedings. The court held that when approving an airport project’s environmental assessment that obviated the need for an environmental impact statement, the Federal Aviation Administration and a local airport authority failed to take the requisite “hard look” at whether the uniquely capacity-enhancing addition of a new runway would have indirect effects due to increased demand for airport operations.
The Port of Portland operated Hillsboro Airport (HIO), some twelve miles west of Portland in the city of Hillsboro. Although designated a reliever airport for Portland International Airport, HIO was Oregon’s busiest airfield, serving commercial air carriers, military flights, and general aviation interests.
