A federal judge ruled in favor of the government and ruled that construction of the ICC can go ahead:
The lawsuit was the last realistic hope of ICC opponents. Even the lawsuit was a long shot as the government usually wins these cases. Gov. Martin O'Malley has expressed strong support for the ICC so I think we can expect the State to move quickly to construct it.He wrote that government agencies abided by federal law outlining how highway projects' environmental impacts must be analyzed before they are approved. The judge noted the "extensive record and the agencies' level of technical expertise and experience."
"Although [the government agencies'] actions in some instances may not have been a paragon of perfection, the court, nonetheless, cannot find anything that rises to the level of a meaningful violation" of federal requirements, Williams wrote in a 106-page opinion issued this afternoon. "For all of these reasons, the court concludes that there is no legal or equitable basis to prevent the Inter-County Connector from moving forward."
