"Backers of FedEx Cargo Hub at Greensboro, N.C., Airport Update Legal Defense"

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Backers of FedEx Cargo Hub at Greensboro, N.C., Airport Update Legal
Defense
The High Point Enterprise, N.C.


Attorneys for the federal government and Piedmont Triad International
Airport continued their legal defense of the FedEx Corp. cargo hub
Wednesday.

Both parties submitted legal filings arguing that a federal judge should
grant them a summary judgment and reject a challenge by hub opponents
who are trying to scuttle the project. The hub opponents filed their
initial legal action in January in U.S. Middle District Court in
Greensboro, seeking to have Federal Judge Frank Bullock Jr. set aside a
key permit for the project issued in December by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.

The hub opponents "have failed to show ... that the Clean Water Act
section 404 permit issued by the Corps of Engineers to the Piedmont
Triad Airport Authority was arbitrary and capricious or contrary to
law," attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice contend in their
legal filing. The Justice Department is representing the Corps of
Engineers in the case.

Attorneys for the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority argued in their
filing that the Corps of Engineers met the statutory burden in granting
the permit, which was the last one airport officials needed before they
could begin initial site work after a 5-year environmental review
process.

The airport authority's attorneys argue that the Corps of Engineers
examined pertinent information before making a rational decision to
grant the permit.

Attorneys for both parties have submitted reams of legal briefs and
other filings to Bullock's court during the past two months. Bullock
heard oral arguments in the case in early March and ruled against a
request by the hub opponents to issue an injunction to stop the initial
site work taking place now.

However, Bullock has pledged to rule on hub opponents' legal challenge
before the end of April.

FedEx has pledged to create 1,500 full- and part-time jobs at its fifth
national cargo hub, which should open no later than the middle of 2009.


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