 A decades-old legal battle over the environmental impacts of a major road bypass project under construction in Reno is back before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lawyers for both sides get 20 minutes each to state their case Monday before a three-judge panel in San Francisco.
The appellate court rejected a citizens group's request in July to issue an emergency injunction blocking completion of the $290 million project first proposed in the 1950s.
The Upper Southeast Communities Coalition says the final phase of the six-lane road connecting south Reno to east Sparks could increase flood danger to nearby neighborhoods, harm sensitive wetlands and spread mercury contamination.
It says the Army Corps of Engineers should have required the local Regional Transportation Commission to produce a formal environmental impact statement for the "Southeast Connector."
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com and The Associated Press
