September 30, 2005
www.chicagobusiness.com
O'Hare: Will the pen be mightier than the backhoe?
Lawsuits seek to stop airport expansion
By Julie Jargon
With heavy equipment poised to begin the controversial expansion of O’Hare International Airport, lawyers in Washington, D.C. were scurrying to seek a stop the scheduled 2 p.m. groundbreaking. As expected Friday, Federal Aviation Administration approved a $15 billion plan to expand O’Hare by adding and reconfiguring its runways to increase the number of flights and cut congestion at one of the country’s busiest airports.
Opponents of the airport expansion, which include the neighboring towns of Elk Grove Village and Bensenville, are planning to seek an injunction today in the federal court of appeals in the district of Columbia to stop any construction.
Joseph Karaganis, an attorney representing the expansion opponents, says he hopes the requested court order will be granted this afternoon. But even if critics of the plan are successful in stopping today’s groundbreaking, it will be only the beginning of a court battle that could tie up the expansion for months.
The two towns and a nearby cemetery plan next week to file an amended complaint to an ongoing case involving the relocation of graves in the path of planned runways. That case, which has been in limbo in federal district court in Chicago for two years, can go forward now that the FAA has given the O’Hare Modernization Program its blessing. Mr. Karaganis alleges that by relocating graves, the city of Chicago and the FAA are in violation of several federal and state laws, including the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The Karaganis-led opponents also charge that the FAA has violated federal law by approving a project before it has fully analyzed the costs involved. Legal complaints involving the cost are part of the Chicago case and also will be part of a lawsuit in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., where cases involving the FAA must be filed.
FAA administrator Marion Blakey this morning said the agency believes funding will be available for the $7.52 billion airfield reconfiguration it approved today. Future project phases are estimated to cost another $7 billion, and Ms. Blakey said the FAA still has to conduct further analysis on the project’s full cost.
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson is confident that through the legal proceedings, further information about the true costs will be revealed. “We’ve been stonewalled for four years,” he says. “Information has slowly been coming out about how the project will be too costly and dangerous. Now, when we go to court, that information will finally come out. We’ve waited for this day.”
A spokesman for the city said it is awaiting further details of the expected lawsuits before commenting fully on the timeline of the massive undertaking, But the city has said in the past it expected to begin construction immediately upon receiving FAA approval.
“We’re confident (opponents) won’t meet the standards that will prevent us from moving forward with this project,” said Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the O’Hare Modernization Program, Friday.