Countywide : Tollway Foes Win Round in Court

A federal judge on Monday dismissed efforts by Orange County tollway officials to gain quick approval of the San Joaquin Hills tollway.

In a terse dismissal, U.S. Dist. Judge Linda H. McLaughlin in Los Angeles said the suit did not involve a federal agency or an issue that warranted a federal trial at this time.

Tollway officials, anticipating environmental lawsuits, moved first and sued several environmental groups in July in hopes of speeding a court resolution and precluding future environmental challenges. The trial would have focused on the adequacy of the federal environmental impact statement for the 15-mile, $793-million tollway, which is scheduled for construction early next year.

Environmentalists argued that because the environmental impact statement is a federal document, only the Federal Highway Administration could file this kind of lawsuit.

Seeking to rescue his case, John Flynn, the attorney representing tollway officials, urged Judge McLaughlin to force the Highway Administration into court as an involuntary co-plaintiff. She declined.

“No actual, justiciable, legal controversy arising under federal law exists,” McLaughlin wrote.

A federal trial on the merits of the project’s environmental impact statement will depend on whether environmentalists file their own lawsuit--an option they are still considering.

Environmentalists were outraged when the tollway agency filed the lawsuit, saying it was an act of intimidation aimed at punishing those who opposed the project.

“I think this is a very significant victory for the community,” NRDC attorney Joel Reynolds said after the 15-minute court hearing. “Suing citizens groups is a dangerous act--one that shouldn’t be tolerated.”

Reynolds said his clients, including the Laguna Greenbelt, Save Our San Juan, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Laguna Conservancy, would now focus on the remaining project approvals still needed by the tollway agency, including a coastal construction permit and a wetlands grading permit. He said the NRDC is still weighing how strong a case it has if it decides to challenge the environmental impact statement in federal court.

“We won one,” said Norm Grossman, a Laguna Greenbelt board member and City Council candidate who attended the court hearing. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Flynn’s co-counsel, Rob Thornton, would not say if the tollway agency will appeal.

“While we are disappointed,” tollway agency spokeswoman Mike Stockstill said, “we understand that the motion was very narrowly drawn and that the judge felt the Federal Highway Administration was the only agency qualified to bring the suit. . . . We will be exploring other options designed to accelerate a test in federal court sooner rather than later.”