NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

CITY OF LOS ANGELES, 

Petitioner, 

CITY OF CULVER CITY, 

Petitioner-Intervenor, 

 v. 

STEPHEN M. DICKSON, in his official 

capacity as Administrator, Federal Aviation 

Administration; FEDERAL AVIATION 

ADMINISTRATION, 

Respondents.

No. 19-71581 

MEMORANDUM*

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Federal Aviation Administration

Argued and Submitted June 11, 2021

Pasadena, California

Before: MURGUIA, BADE, and LEE, Circuit Judges.

The City of Los Angeles and Culver City (“Cities”) petition for review of two 

Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) actions pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 46110. 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

FILED

JUL 8 2021

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2 

We grant the petition in part and dismiss the petition in part.

1. The Cities argue that the FAA violated the National Environmental Policy Act 

(“NEPA”), the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), and section 4(f) of the 

Department of Transportation Act by issuing three amended flight procedures for 

aircraft arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (the “amended Arrival 

Routes”) without environmental review. As an initial matter, we conclude that we 

have jurisdiction over the petition for review of the amended Arrival Routes. See S. 

Cal. Aerial Advertisers’ Ass’n v. FAA, 881 F.2d 672, 675 (9th Cir. 1989) (explaining 

that we have an obligation to determine the scope of our own jurisdiction). 

Under 49 U.S.C. § 46110(a), we may review “an order issued by” the FAA

based on a petition filed “not later than 60 days after the order is issued” unless 

“there are reasonable grounds for not filing by the 60th day.” Here, as the FAA 

concedes, the amended Arrival Routes constitute a final, reviewable agency order 

because the amended Arrival Routes are supported by a reviewable administrative 

record, definitively state the FAA’s position, have a direct and immediate effect on 

the Cities, and require immediate compliance. See MacLean v. Dep’t of Homeland 

Sec., 543 F.3d 1145, 1149 (9th Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (citing Gilmore v. Gonzales, 

435 F.3d 1125, 1132 (9th Cir. 2006)). Although Los Angeles petitioned for review 

of the amended Arrival Routes more than a year after the amended Arrival Routes 

were issued, and Culver City moved to intervene in the action several weeks after 
3 

that, the Cities had reasonable grounds for the delay because the FAA had agreed to 

toll the statutory petition-for-review deadline while the Cities attempted to work 

with the FAA to address their concerns.1 See Kashem v. Barr, 941 F.3d 358, 391

(9th Cir. 2019) (explaining that there were “reasonable grounds” for delay based on 

the government’s concession); see also City of Phoenix v. Huerta, 869 F.3d 963, 970

(D.C. Cir. 2017). Therefore, we have jurisdiction over the Cities’ NEPA, NHPA, 

and section 4(f) claims. 

NEPA requires the FAA and other federal agencies to evaluate and disclose 

the environmental impacts of their actions. See 42 U.S.C. § 4332; see also Morongo 

Band of Mission Indians v. FAA, 161 F.3d 569, 575 (9th Cir. 1998). The NEPA 

process is intended to ensure that “before an agency can act,” the agency considers 

potential environmental impacts. Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 

U.S. 332, 349, 353 (1989). The FAA did not do so here.2 In compiling the 

1 We grant Los Angeles’s motion to consider the tolling agreement (Doc. 115), 

which provides that Los Angeles had “reasonable grounds” to delay filing a petition 

for review of the amended Arrival Routes.

2 We grant the two pending motions to supplement the record, see Doc. 50 (FAA’s 

Cross-Motion to Supplement the Record); Doc. 63 (Los Angeles’s Motion to 

Complete the Record, alternatively seeking supplementation of the record), because 

the supplemental documents the FAA and Los Angeles offer are necessary to 

determine whether the FAA properly “considered all relevant factors and . . . 

explained its decision.” See Lands Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019, 1030 (9th Cir. 

2005) (quoting Sw. Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Serv., 100 F.3d 1443, 

1450 (9th Cir. 1996)). However, we deny Los Angeles’s request to complete the 

record (Doc. 63), because there is no indication the FAA relied on these documents
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administrative record for the amended Arrival Routes, the FAA pointed to two 

documents as the basis for its decision—a memo “confirming” the agency had 

completed the necessary environmental review, and an “Initial Environmental 

Review” document. But both documents postdated the publication of the amended 

Arrival Routes by several months. Accordingly, they cannot constitute the FAA’s 

NEPA review. See id. Nor can the undated spreadsheet that the FAA points to for 

the first time during this litigation form the requisite review. See Dep’t of Homeland 

Sec. v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 140 S. Ct. 1891, 1909 (2020) (“An agency must 

defend its actions based on the reasons it gave when it acted.”).

The FAA argues that its post hoc Initial Environmental Review document 

brought the agency into compliance with NEPA by documenting the FAA’s 

application of a categorical exclusion to NEPA review. A categorical exclusion 

excuses an agency from preparing an environmental impact statement or 

environmental assessment for a particular action. See Sierra Club v. Bosworth, 510 

F.3d 1016, 1018–19 (9th Cir. 2007). But a categorical exclusion may not be applied 

when there are “extraordinary circumstances in which a normally excluded action 

in performing its environmental review. See Thompson v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 885 

F.2d 551, 555 (9th Cir. 1989). 

We also grant Los Angeles’s Motion for Judicial Notice (Doc. 66), but we deny the 

FAA’s Motion to Consider Formatted Document (Doc. 79) as moot, as this 

document already exists in the record. 
5 

may have a significant environmental effect.” Id. at 1019 (citation omitted). We 

review an agency’s determination that a categorical exclusion applies to a particular 

action, and that there are no extraordinary circumstances preventing application of 

the categorical exclusion, under the arbitrary-and-capricious standard. See id. at 

1022. This standard requires the agency to “articulate a rational connection between 

the facts found and the conclusions reached.” Id. at 1023 (citation omitted). In 

addition, “when an agency has taken action without observance of the procedure 

required by law, that action will be set aside.” Id. 

Here, the FAA’s procedures state that “extraordinary circumstances” exist, 

and a categorical exclusion may not be applied, when a proposed action is “likely to 

be highly controversial on environmental grounds,” meaning that “there is a 

substantial dispute over the degree, extent, or nature of a proposed action’s 

environmental impacts.” The Cities maintain that, based on the FAA’s own 

definition, there were such “extraordinary circumstances” here because there was 

significant controversy about the extent to which aircraft were flying below the 

minimum altitudes on the original Arrival Routes. In other words, the Cities assert

that there was a substantial dispute over the noise and other environmental impacts 

that the amended Arrival Routes would cause, and the public controversy 

surrounding the Arrival Routes was evidence of this dispute. But the FAA failed to 

address the record evidence indicating that there was a dispute over the potential 
6 

effects of the amended Arrival Routes in the Initial Environmental Review, in 

contravention of its own procedures. Therefore, the FAA’s application of a 

categorical exclusion was arbitrary and capricious, in violation of NEPA. See Sierra 

Club, 510 F.3d at 1023; see also City of Phoenix, 869 F.3d at 972–73. Accordingly, 

we grant the Cities’ petition for review of the amended Arrival Routes with respect 

to the NEPA claims.

NHPA requires an agency to consider the effects of proposed actions on 

historic structures. See Morongo Band, 161 F.3d at 581. “In fulfilling this 

obligation, agencies must consult with certain stakeholders in the potentially 

affected areas, including representatives of local governments.” City of Phoenix, 

869 F.3d at 971; see 36 C.F.R. §§ 800.2(a)(4), (c)(3); 800.5(c). We review an 

agency’s NHPA decisions “under the arbitrary and capricious standard.” Morongo 

Band, 161 F.3d at 573. The FAA makes no argument that it sought to comply with 

NHPA before issuing the amended Arrival Routes. But the FAA contends that its 

post hoc Initial Environmental Review document sufficiently analyzed the effects of 

the amended Arrival Routes on historic structures. That may be, but the NHPA 

requires more—specifically, consultation. Here, the FAA’s admitted failure to 

consult with Los Angeles or Culver City violated NHPA, even if the FAA properly 

determined that there would be no adverse impacts on historic properties. See id. at 

581; see also City of Phoenix, 869 F.3d at 971 (explaining that “the FAA’s failure 
7 

to notify and provide documentation to the City of the agency’s finding of no adverse 

impact violated regulations under the Preservation Act, and denied the City its right 

to participate in the process and object to the FAA’s findings”); 36 C.F.R. § 800.5(c). 

Accordingly, we also grant the petition for review with respect to the NHPA claim.

Finally, section 4(f) of the Transportation Act requires an agency within the 

Department of Transportation to assess whether a transportation project will “use” a 

“public park,” “recreation area,” or “historic site of national, State, or local 

significance.” See 49 U.S.C. § 303(c). The term “use” includes “constructive use,” 

such as elevated noise levels that “substantially interfere” with the use of a property. 

Morongo Band, 161 F.3d at 583. According to the FAA’s procedures, a responsible 

FAA official “must consult all appropriate Federal, state, and local officials having 

jurisdiction over the affected Section 4(f) properties when determining whether 

project-related impacts would substantially impair the resources.” Fed. Aviation 

Admin., Order No. 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures § B2.2.2 (July 16, 2015). As with an agency’s NEPA and NHPA determinations, 

“[d]ecisions regarding . . . the Transportation Act are similarly reviewed under the 

arbitrary and capricious standard.” Morongo Band, 161 F.3d at 573. Here, the FAA 

ultimately completed its section 4(f) analysis in the post hoc Initial Environmental 

Review document, but there is no evidence that the FAA ever consulted with the 

Cities regarding the affected section 4(f) properties the FAA identified. What’s 
8 

more, the FAA did not acknowledge its section 4(f) consultation obligation in the 

Initial Environmental Review, nor explain why it was excused from consulting with 

the Cities. Therefore, the FAA also violated its own section 4(f) procedures, and we 

grant the petition for review with respect to the section 4(f) failure-to-consult claim.

In sum, we conclude that the FAA violated NEPA, NHPA, and section 4(f) in 

issuing the amended Arrival Routes. Although the typical remedy when we hold an 

agency’s action unlawful is vacatur, we have discretion to remand without vacatur 

“when equity demands.” Pollinator Stewardship Council v. U.S. EPA, 806 F.3d 

520, 532 (9th Cir. 2015) (quoting Idaho Farm Bureau Fed’n v. Babbitt, 58 F.3d 

1392, 1405 (9th Cir. 1995)). In exercising this discretion, we weigh the seriousness 

of the agency’s error against the disruptive consequences of vacating the agency’s 

action. Id. Although the failure to complete proper environmental review is a 

serious error, the FAA has asserted that the consequences of vacating the amended 

Arrival Routes would be severely disruptive in terms of cost, safety, and potential 

environmental consequences, and the Cities have offered nothing to counter the 

FAA’s contentions about these harmful effects.3 Accordingly, we exercise our 

discretion to remand the amended Arrival Routes to the FAA without vacatur, 

leaving the amended Arrival Routes in place while the FAA undertakes the proper 

3 We grant the FAA’s Motion to Consider Two Documents (Doc. 76) in part with 

respect to the Stewart Declaration, which describes the potential effects of vacatur. 

We deny the motion as moot with respect to the internal FAA emails. 
9 

NEPA analysis and NHPA and section 4(f) consultation.

2. The Cities also argue that the FAA violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 

NEPA, and due process by posting a disclaimer (the “Notice”) on the FAA’s 

“Instrument Flight Procedure Information Gateway” website. The Notice states that 

the FAA will not consider environmental comments submitted through this 

particular website, which is meant for technical feedback from “civil aviation 

organizations, affected military and civil air traffic control facilities, and aircraft 

owners and sponsors.” Because the Notice does not have a direct and immediate 

effect nor require immediate compliance, see MacLean, 543 F.3d at 1149, it is not a 

final order within the meaning of 49 U.S.C. § 46110, and we lack jurisdiction to 

review it. Accordingly, we dismiss the Cities’ claims regarding the Notice. 

PETITION GRANTED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART.4 

4 Each party shall bear their own costs.