A panel’s decision that the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacked the authority to issue binding environmental regulations will remain in place after the full D.C. Circuit denied petitions for rehearing Friday.
The original dispute in Marin Audubon Society v. FAA centered around whether tourist flights over national parks in California required an environmental review under NEPA. But a panel of judges at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against the US government in November, adding that CEQ can’t issue binding regulations. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan dissented with that decision.
The US and …