About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

B-202376 1 (1981-03-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobactxj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 Office of General Counsel In Reply Referto: B-202376 Ms. Kay Ahaus Lake Hefner Open Space Alliance 3024 Lakeside Drive Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120 Q. March 18, 1981 cd Dear Ms. Ahaus: You have requested our opinion on matters relating to the construction of the West Bypas , a federally aided state highway in Oklahoma City. Although formal decisions of the Comptroller General are not usually issued to private individuals, we are happy to provide the following informal assistance, which we hope will be both helpful and timely. As you know, states seeking Federal aid highway funds propose the sites and designs for new highway construction projects to the Secretary of Transportation. Major actions must be accompanied by an Environmen- tal Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS must take into account any encroach- ments on parkland. The part of the EIS which contains a state highway department's finding that use of parkland cannot be avoided, the plans to minimize the harm caused by the project and the documentation supporting those findings is called the 4(f) statement. While reviewing the EIS and before deciding on Federal funding of the proposed project, the Secretary of Transportation must give prime consideration to the preservation of public parks. By law (Section 4(f) of the Department of Transporation Act), the Secretary may not approve any program or project which requires the use of any publicly owned land from a public park * * * unless (1) there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the use of such land, and (2) such program includes all possible planning to minimize harm to such park * * 49 U.S.C. 5 1653(f) (1976) (See identical language in 23 U.S.C. § 138 (1976)). You informed us that the EIS for State Highway 74 and State Highway 3 contained a 4(f) statement on Lake Hefner. You also stated that the Secretary rejected the state's assertion in the 4(f) statement that there were no alternatives to building a freeway through the Lake Hefner park area. In fact, the Secretary's ruling would appear to amount to a decision that the feasible and prudent alternative was not to build the northern J1V~ ,6_16 6 77

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most