Legal Documentation

2014 Challenge to Hillsboro Airport Third Runway - US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Oregon Aviation Watch petitioned the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prior to moving forward with this project. In the 84 years during which HIO has grown from a grassy airstrip into the largest general aviation airport in the state, the Port of Portland has never taken a hard look nor has it engaged in a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the environmental impacts of this facility.

• Petitioners' Opening Brief
• Request for Judicial Notice
• Exhibit A, EPA: Calculating Piston-Engine Aircraft Airport Inventories for Lead for the 2008 National Emissions Inventory
• Exhibit B, EPA: Airport Lead Monitoring
• Exhibit C, Oregon DEQ: Significant Emission Rates
• FAA Brief for the Federal Respondents
• Supplemental Excerpts of Record
• Port of Portland's Opposition Brief
• Petitioners' Reply Brief
• Opinion No. 14-71180 On Petition for Review of an Order of the Federal Aviation Administration (PDF, 20 pages)
• Petitioners' Request for a Rehearing

2014 Challenge to Hillsboro Airport Third Runway - Injunction Request

Early in the summer of 2014 Oregon Aviation Watch filed a motion for an injunction pending a decision on the merits of the case so that the case could be reviewed by the court prior to construction. Unfortunately, our petition was denied.

• Denial of Injunction Request

2013 Challenge to Hillsboro Airport Third Runway - Supplemental Environmental Assessment

On March 15, 2013, the Port of Portland released a Supplemental Environmental Assessment in support of moving forward with the proposed third runway at the Hillsboro Airport. OAW submitted comments in opposition to this project.

The Port of Portland's Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) is comprised of two volumes, in PDF forma:

• Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment for HIO Parallel Runway, Volume 1, February 2014 (72 pages)
• Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment for HIO Parallel Runway, Volume 1, Appendices A-F, February 2014 (224 pages)
• Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment for HIO Parallel Runway, Volume 2, February 2014 (406 pages)

Documentation submitted by Oregon Aviation Watch in opposition to the third runway proposal:

• Comments submitted by Sean Malone, Attorney at Law, at the request of Oregon Aviation Watch
• Comments submitted by Williams Aviation Consultants, Inc., at the request of Oregon Aviation Watch
• Comments prepared by James Lubischer, MD, Vice-President of Oregon Aviation Watch
• Comments prepared by Miki Barnes, LCSW, President of Oregon Aviation Watch
• Follow-up questions prepared by Miki Barnes, LCSW, President of Oregon Aviation Watch
• Air Quality: EPA's Integrated Scientific Assessments (ISAs): Lead

2010 Challenge to Hillsboro Airport Third Runway - US Ninth Circuit Court Decision

On July 12, 2010 attorneys Sean Malone and Andrew Orahoske submitted an Opening Brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Case No. 10-70718 Michelle Barnes, Patrick Conry, and Blaine Ackley v. the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the Port of Portland intervening on behalf of the FAA challenging the Environmental Assessment (EA) and the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Hillsboro Airport Parallel Runway Project, as issued by the FAA on 1/8/10. On August 26, 2011, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed to take a "hard look" at the indirect environmental impacts of constructing a third runway at the Hillsboro Airport (HIO) in Hillsboro, Oregon, and remanded the case to the FAA.

Links to documentation, Ninth Circuit Court:

• Opinion No. 10-70718 On Petition for Review of an Order of the Federal Aviation Administration (PDF, 42 pages)
• Petitioners' Opening Brief filed in opposition to the third runway (PDF, 82 pages)
• Petitioners' Opening Brief, Appendix: Excerpts of Record (PDF, 74 pages).
• Answering Brief, FAA (PDF, 64 pages).
• Answering Brief, Port of Portland (PDF, 51 pages).
• Answering Brief, Port of Portland, Addendum (PDF, 9 pages).
• Petitioners' Reply Brief (PDF, 34 pages).
• Petitioners' Reply Brief, Addendum (PDF, 26 pages).