ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20099
No(s). 11-2210 (4th Cir. May 3, 2012)

The Fourth Circuit held that the Federal Highway Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation violated NEPA when they approved the construction of a 20-mile toll road. In calculating the "no-build" baseline as part of their alternatives analysis, the agencies relied on data that assumed that the toll road existed. By doing so, the agencies assertedly conflated the "no build" and "build" scenarios, making it impossible to accurately isolate and assess the environmental impacts of the road. Moreover, the agencies compounded this error by refusing to acknowledge it to the public and instead maintaining throughout the administrative process that the "no build" data did not assume the existence of the toll road. By failing to disclose critical assumptions underlying their decision to build the road and instead providing the public with incorrect information, the agencies violated NEPA. The court, therefore, vacated and remanded a lower court decision in favor of the agencies.