Utahns for Better Transportation v. United States Department of Transportation

In preparation for anticipated population growth and travel demand, Utah officials developed a plan to construct Legacy Parkway, a state-funded highway that would start near Salt Lake City, run along the east side of the Great Salt Lake, and end in a connection with U.S. Route 89. Legacy Parkway was part of a “shared solution” that also included expansions of Interstate 15 and the public-transit system. Because the Legacy Parkway project required federal approval for its connection with a federal highway and its plan to fill in extensive wetlands around the Great Salt Lake, it constituted a major federal action under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The project therefore required an environmental-impact statement (EIS). Following the release of a final EIS (FEIS), the Federal Highway Administration and the United States Corps of Engineers (the agencies) issued a record of decision allowing the project to move forward. Utahns for Better Transportation (UFBT) (plaintiff) filed suit asking that approval of the project be vacated and that a new EIS be ordered. UFBT alleged that the FEIS was insufficient on a number of grounds, including the following: (1) practicable alternatives existed to Legacy Parkway as planned, and those alternatives were not adequately considered; (2) the agencies failed to consider alternative land-use scenarios that would reduce travel demand and therefore the need for Legacy Parkway; (3) the FEIS failed to adequately analyze the impact of the possible future expansion of Legacy Parkway from two to four lanes; (4) the agencies did not fully consider the land-use impacts of Legacy Parkway; (5) the FEIS did not adequately consider the impacts of Legacy Parkway on Salt Lake City; (6) the agencies failed to adequately analyze the impacts on wetlands and wildlife; and (7) the FEIS did not include an adequate air-pollution analysis. The district court denied UFBT’s request, and UFBT appealed.