UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
FRIENDS OF THE CAPITAL CRESCENT
TRAIL et al.,
Plaintiffs,
Civil Case No. 14-01471 (RJL)
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION
el al. , '
FILED
JuN-szm?
C|ark. U.S. Distrlct & Bankruptcy
Courts for the D|str|ct of Co|umb|a
Federal Defendants.
STATE OF MARYLAND,
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Defendant-Intervenor.
l\:lEMORANDUM OPINION
(June 3 , 2017) [Dkts. ## 47, 54, 56, ll$, 116]
In March 2014, the Federal Transit Adrninistration (“FTA”) issued a Record of
Decision (“ROD”) approving the Purple Line Project, a planned 162-mile light rail transit
system in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, Maryland. Friends of the Capital
Crescent Trail (“FCCT”), John MacKnight Fitzgerald, and Christine Real de Azua
(“plaintiffs”) filed suit in this Court, challenging the ROD and related approvals by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS,” together with FTA and the Department of
Transportation and the Department of Interior, “federal defendants”).l Plaintiffs raise a
plethora of claims under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551~706,
and five substantive statutes: (l) the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42
U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.; (2) the Federal Transit Act, 49 U.S.C. § 5309; (3) Section 4(f) ofthe
Department of Transportation Act, 23 U.S.C. § 138; (4) the Endangered Species Act, l6
U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544; and (5) the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, l6 U.S.C. § 703. See
generally Am. Compl. [Dkt. # 20]; First Suppl. Compl. [Dl