Lifting the 28-year old injunction is the last step Massachusetts Port Authority needs to do before it can build the new runway. The state's environmental affairs office approved the runway this past summer.

"There is a big difference between now and the 1970s," Barbara Platt, spokesperson for MassPort, tells GlobeSt.com. "Port Authority didn't have a state environmental review. We've had very extensive state and federal reviews." The federal environmental review is still ongoing.

Local activists have complained that a new runway would increase the noise and air pollution in their areas but Platt contends that a new runway--which will be used for traffic going over the water--will actually reduce those complaints. "The new runway will help reduce flights over communities," she says. "It would help distribute the noise by distributing the flights more equitably." A preliminary hearing on the case is scheduled for March 20.