Opinion ID: 162578
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Failure to Consider Land Use Impacts

Text: 59 An EIS must analyze not only the direct impacts of a proposed action, but also the indirect impacts of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency or person undertakes such other actions. See Custer County, 256 F.3d at 1035. Indirect impacts are defined by the NEPA regulations as being caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable.... [They] may include growth inducing effects.... 40 C.F.R. § 1508.8(b). Appellants consider the FEIS to be inadequate under NEPA because it does not consider the land use impacts that the Legacy Parkway will have on the North Corridor. Aplt. Br. at 47. In reviewing the adequacy of a final environmental impact statement we merely examine whether there is a reasonable, good faith, objective presentation of the topics [NEPA] requires an [EIS] to cover. Colorado Envtl. Coalition, 185 F.3d at 1172 (internal quotations omitted). The FEIS states that: 60 Consultations with local planners indicate that ultimate growth patterns and planned land uses would not change as a result of building the Legacy Parkway. However, the type of development that would occur around the area of the Legacy Parkway interchanges (at 500 South and at Parrish Lane) would likely be different than the type of development that would occur without the Parkway.... [T]herefore, the development would occur sooner with the Parkway than without it. 61 I Aplee. App. at 443. See also I Aplee. App. at 451-52. The Appellants argue that the FEIS's conclusion that there would be no land use impacts attributable to the Legacy Parkway is circular and illogical because municipal planners had already modified their land use plans to accommodate the sprawl development that will be caused by construction of the Legacy Parkway. Aplt. Br. at 47-48. The Legacy Parkway has been under consideration in some form or another since 1996 and most if not all of the local governments in the North Corridor have revised their land use plans in the intervening six years. 62 We reject Appellants' challenge. First, there is some authority for allowing agencies to rely on local planning documents in an EIS to establish that a proposed highway will not result in further growth. Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. v. United States Dep't of Transp., 42 F.3d 517, 524 n. 6 (9th Cir.1994). Such reliance may readily show that land use impacts may be nil because the surrounding land at issue is already developed or is otherwise committed to uses that were not contingent on the project under consideration. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v. United States Dep't of Transp., 123 F.3d 1142, 1162 (9th Cir.1997). Second, the FEIS states that the Agencies consulted with local planners, not local plans. Appellees' citations to local plans that reflect the Legacy Parkway does not prove that the local planners were not able to advise the Agencies of what land use would occur without the Legacy Parkway. 63 Appellants additionally note that the FEIS's finding of no land use impacts was criticized by other agencies. However, NEPA requires agencies preparing an EIS to consider and respond to the comments of other agencies, not to agree with them. Custer County, 256 F.3d at 1038 (citing 40 C.F.R. § 1503.4). The record indicates that the Agencies considered and responded to the comments of other agencies. Many of the criticisms cited by the Appellants in their brief were made early in the NEPA process and do not reflect the agencies' final positions on this issue. IV Aplee. App. at 1255. The FEIS's conclusion that the Legacy Parkway would not impact land use does not render the EIS inadequate.