Source: https://openjurist.org/411/us/624/city-of-burbank-v-lockheed-air-terminal-inc
Timestamp: 2017-09-23 06:08:58
Document Index: 683357792

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1348', '§ 1348', '§ 1431', '§ 1301', '§ 1431', '§ 1422', '§ 1348', '§ 1348', '§ 611', '§ 1431', '§ 611', '§ 611', '§ 1431', '§ 1431', '§ 20', '§ 1431', '§ 1431', '§ 1431']

411 US 624 City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal Inc | OpenJurist
411 U.S. 624 - City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal Inc
CITY OF BURBANK et al., Appellants,
LOCKHEED AIR TERMINAL INC. et al.
The Senate version of the 1972 Act as it passed the Senate contained an express pre-emption section.15 But the Senate version never was presented to the House. Instead, the Senate passed, with amendments, the House version;16 the House, also with amendments, then concurred in the Senate amendments.17 The Act as passed combined provisions of both the House and Senate bills on the subject that each had earlier approved. When the blended provisions of the present Act were before the House, Congressman Staggers, Chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, in urging the House to accept the amended version, said:18
When the House approved the blended provisions of the bill, Senator Tunney moved that the Senate concur. He made clear19 that the regulations to be considered by EPA for recommendation to FAA would include:
'proposed means of reducing noise in airport environments through the application of emission controls on aircraft, the regulation of flight patterns and aircraft and airport operations, and modifications in the number, frequency, or scheduling of flights (as well as) . . . the imposition of curfews on noisy airports, the imposition of flight path alternations in areas where noise was a problem, the imposition of noise emission standards on new and existing aircraft—with the expectation of a retrofit schedule to abate noise emissions from existing aircraft—the imposition of controls to increase the load factor on commercial flights, or other reductions in the joint use of airports, and such other procedures as may be determined useful and necessary to protect public health and welfare.' (Emphasis added.)
When the President signed the bill he stated that 'many of the most significant sources of noise move in interstate commerce and can be effectively regulated only at the federal level.'20
Our prior cases on pre-emption are not precise guidelines in the present controversy, for each case turns on the peculiarities and special features of the federal regulatory scheme in question. Cf. Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 61 S.Ct. 399, 85 L.Ed. 581; Huron Portland Cement Co. v. Detroit, 362 U.S. 440, 80 S.Ct. 813, 4 L.Ed.2d 852. Control of noise is of course deep-seated in the police power of the States. Yet the pervasive control vested in EPA and in FAA under the 1972 Act seems to us to leave no room for local curfews or other local controls. What the ultimate remedy may be for aircraft noise which plagues many communities and tens of thousands of people is not known. The procedures under the 1972 Act are under way.21 In addition the Administrator has imposed a variety of regulations relating to takeoff and landing procedures and runway preferences. The Federal Aviation Act requires a delicate balance between safety and efficiency, 49 U.S.C. § 1348(a), and the protection of persons on the ground. 49 U.S.C § 1348(c). Any regulations adopted by the Administrator to control noise pollution must be consistent with the 'highest degree of safety.' 49 U.S.C. § 1431(d)(3). The interdependence of these factors requires a uniform and exclusive system of federal regulation if the congressional objectives underlying the Federal Aviation Act are to be fulfilled.
If we were to uphold the Burbank ordinance and a significant number of municipalities followed suit, it is obvious that fractionalized control of the timing of takeoffs and landings would severely limit the flexibility of FAA in controlling air traffic flow.22 The difficulties of scheduling flights to avoid congestion and the concomitant decrease in safety would be compounded. In 1960 FAA rejected a proposed restriction on jet operations at the Los Angeles airport between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. because such restrictions could 'create critically serious problems to all air transportation patterns.' 25 Fed.Reg. 1764 1765. The complete FAA statement said:
The Court concludes that congressional legislation dealing with aircraft noise has so 'pervaded' that field that Congress has impliedly pre-empted it, and therefore the ordinance of the city of Burbank here challenged is invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The Court says that the 1972 'Act reaffirms and reinforces the conclusion that FAA, now in conjunction with EPA, has full control over aircraft noise, pre-empting state and local control.' Ante, at 633. Yet the House and Senate committee reports explicitly state that the 1972 Act to which the Court refers was not intended to alter the balance between state and federal regulation which had been struck by earlier congressional legislation in this area. The House Report, H.R.Rep.No.92—842, in discussing the general pre-emptive effect of the entire bill, stated:
'States and local governments are preempted from establishing or enforcing noise emission standards for aircraft (see American Airlines v. Hempstead, 272 F.Supp. 226 (EDNY 1967)), unless such standards are identical to standards prescribed under this bill. This does not address responsibilities or powers of airport operators, and no provision of the bill is intended to alter in any way the relationship between the authority of the Federal government and that of State and local governments that existed with respect to matters covered by section 611 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 prior to the enactment of the bill.' Id., at 10—11.
In the light of these specific congressional disclaimers of pre-emption in the 1972 Act, reference must necessarily be had to earlier congressional legislation on the subject.1 It was on the basis of these earlier enactments that the Court of Appeals concluded that Congress had pre-empted the field from state or local regulation of the type that the city of Burbank enacted.
Since Congress' intent in enacting the 1972 Act was clearly to retain the status quo between the federal regulation and local regulation, a holding of implied pre-emption of the field depends upon whether two earlier congressional enactments, the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, 72 Stat. 731, 49 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq., and the 1968 noise abatement amendment to that Act, 49 U.S.C. § 1431, manifested the clear intent to preclude local regulations, that our prior decisions require.
The 1958 Act was intended to consolidate in one agency in the Executive Branch the control over aviation that had previously been diffused within that branch. The paramount substantive concerns of Congress were to regulate federally all aspects of air safety, see, e.g., 49 U.S.C. § 1422 and, once aircraft were in 'flight,' airspace management, see, e.g., 49 U.S.C. § 1348(a). See S.Rep.No.1811, 85th Cong., 2d Sess., 5—6, 13—15 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 1958, p. 3741. While the Act might be broad enough to permit the Administrator to promulgate takeoff and landing rules to avoid excessive noise at certain hours of the day, see 49 U.S.C. § 1348(c), Congress was not concerned with the problem of noise created by aircraft and did not intend to preempt its regulation. Furthermore, while Congress clearly intended to pre-empt the States from regulating aircraft in flight, the author of the bill, Senator Monroney, specifically stated that FAA would not have control 'over the ground space' of airports.2
Several years after the conclusion of these hearings, Congress enacted the 1968 noise abatement amendment, 82 Stat. 395, which added § 611 to the 1958 Act, 49 U.S.C. § 1431, and which was the first congressional legislation dealing with the problem of aircraft noise. On its face,3 § 611 as added by the 1968 amendment neither pre-empted the general field of regulation of aircraft noise nor dealt specifically with the more limited question of curfews. The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, after reciting the serious proportions of the problem, outlined the type of federal regulation that the Act sought to impose:
'A completely quiet airplane will not be developed within the foreseeable future. However, with the technological and regulatory means now at hand, it is possible to reduce both the level and the impact of aircraft noise. Within the limits of technology and economic feasibility, it is the view of the committee that the Federal Government must assure that the potential reductions are in fact realized.' S.Rep. No. 1353, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 2—3, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2690.
'Finally, since the flight of aircraft has been preempted by the Federal Government, State and local governments can presently exercise no control over sonic boom. The bill makes no change in this regard.' Id., at 6—7, U.S.Code Cong. § Admin. News 1068, p. 2693.
In terms of pre-emption analysis, the most reasonable reading of § 611 appears to be that it was enacted to enable the Federal Government to deal with the noise problem created by jet aircraft through study and regulation of the 'source' of the problem—the mechanical and structural aspects of jet and turbine aircraft design. The authority to 'prescribe and amend such rules and regulations as he may find necessary to provide for the control and abatement of aircraft noise and sonic boom,' 49 U.S.C. § 1431(a), while a broad grant of authority to the Administrator, cannot fairly be read as prohibiting the States from enacting every type of measure, which might have the effect of reducing aircraft noise, in the absence of a regulation to that effect under this section. The statute established exclusive federal control of the technological methods for reducing the output of noise by jet aircraft, but that is a far cry from saying that it prohibited any local regulation of the times at which the local airport might be available for the use of jet aircraft.
The pre-emption question to which the Secretary's letter was addressed related to 'the field of noise regulation insofar as it involves controlling the flight of aircraft' (emphasis added), and thus included types of regulation quite different from that enacted by the city of Burbank that would be clearly precluded. See American Airlines, Inc. v. Town of Hempstead, supra. But more important is the highly practical consideration that the Hollywood-Burbank Airport is probably the only nonfederal airport in the country used by federally certified air carriers that is not owned and operated by a state or local government.4 There is no indication that this fact was brought to the attention of the Senate Committee, or that the Secretary of Transportation was aware of it in framing his letter. It simply strains credulity to believe that the Secretary, the Senate Committee, or Congress intended that all airports except the Hollywood-Burbank Airport could enact curfews.
The history of congressional action in this field demonstrates, I believe, an affirmative congressional intent to allow local regulation. But even if it did not go that far, that history surely does not reflect 'the clear and manifest purpose of Congress' to prohibit the exercise of 'the historic police powers of the States' which our decisions require before a conclusion of implied preemption is reached. Clearly Congress could pre-empt the field to local regulation if it chose, and very likely the authority conferred on the Administrator of FAA by 49 U.S.C. § 1431 is sufficient to authorize him to promulgate regulations effectively pre-empting local action. But neither Congress nor the Administrator has chosen to go that route. Until one of them does, the ordinance of the city of Burbank is a valid exercise of its police power.
The District Court found that the Burbank ordinance would impose an undue burden on interstate commerce, and held it invalid under the Commerce Clause for that reason. Neither the Court of Appeals nor this Court's opinion, in view of their determination as to pre-emption, reached that question. The District Court's conclusion appears to be based, at least in part, on a consideration of the effect on interstate commerce that would result if all municipal airports in the country enacted ordinances such as that of Burbank. Since the proper determination of the question turns on an evaluation of the facts of each case, see, e.g., Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 359 U.S. 520, 79 S.Ct. 962, 3 L.Ed.2d 1003 (1959), and not on a predicted proliferation of possibilities, the District Court's conclusion is of doubtful validity. The Burbank ordinance did not affect emergency flights, and had the total effect of prohibiting one scheduled commercial flight each week and several additional private flights by corporate executives; such a result can heardly be held to be an unreasonable burden on commerce. Since the Court expresses no opinion on the question, however, I refrain from any further analysis of it.5
Burbank Municipal Code § 20—32.1. The ordinance provides an exception for 'emergency' flights approved by the City Police Department.
Section 611 of the Federal Aviation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 1431, was added in July 1968. Act of July 21, 1968, Pub.L. 90—411, 82 Stat. 395. Prior to amendment by the 1972 Act, it provided in part that the Administrator, '(i)n order to afford present and future relief and protection to the public from unnecessary aircraft noise and sonic boom, . . . shall prescribe and amend such rules and regulations as he may find necessary to provide for the control and abatement of aircraft noise and sonic boom.' 49 U.S.C. § 1431(a).
'The Congress authorizes and directs that, to the fullest extent possible: (1) the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States shall be interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies set forth in this chapter, and (2) all agencies of the Federal Government shall—. . . (C) include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on—(i) the environmental impact of the proposed action, (ii) any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented, (iii) alternatives to the proposed action, (iv) the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and (v) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented. Prior to making any detailed statement, the responsible Federal official shall consult with and obtain the comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. Copies of such statement and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, which are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards, shall be made available to the President, the Council on Environmental Quality and to the public as provided by section 552 of Title 5, and shall accompany the proposal through the existing agency review processes.'
H.R.Rep.No.92—842, p. 10.
S.Rep.No.92—1160, pp. 10—11, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1972, p. 4663.
'In prescribing and amending standards, rules, and regulations under this section, the Administrator shall—
'In any action to amend, modify, suspend, or revoke a certificate in which violation (of) aircraft noise or sonic boom standards, rules, or regulations is at issue, the certificate holder shall have the same notice and appeal rights as are contained in section 1429 of this title, and in any appeal to the National Transportation Safety Board, the Board may amend, modify, or reverse the order of the Administrator if it finds that contrl or abatement of aircraft noise or sonic boom and the public interest do not require the affirmation of such order, or that such order is not consistent with safety in air commerce or air transportation.' 49 U.S.C. § 1431.