Case Note: Heide v. FAA

2004 WL 1900575 (8th Cir.) unpublished slip opinion, dated August 26, 2004.

Petitioners Heide et al. attempted to persuade a court to review the FAA's FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) on some revised runway operation and use rules at MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul). Problem? The order was issued in 1990. HELD: No "impossibility" of earlier action existed where petitioners claimed they had no notice of the FAA order, but where the record indicated FAA had publicly released the order and engaged in the statutorily required comment period. The press release accompanying the order might have had something to do with the court's reluctance to accept the petitioner's claims. Also HELD: no standing existed in case where petitioners' only alleged claims were bare statements of property ownership in the general vicinity and living near MSP - no sustainable "injury in fact" shown in these facts.