California AG Filed Petition for Rehearing of FAA’s Approval Amazon Cargo Facility

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups filed petitions for rehearing in their challenge to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval of an Amazon airport cargo facility. In November 2021, the Ninth Circuit upheld the FAA’s review of the project, rejecting California and the groups’ claim that the review was based on an inadequate environmental impact statement. The petition for rehearing argued that the new burden of proof created by the Court’s decision—which would require petitioners to prove the negative environmental effects of a project before an agency is required to study its environmental impacts—was unreasonable, and inconsistent with precedent.