 The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority was exempt from requirements to have a federal environmental impact study ( EIS ) conducted on the Creek Turnpike project . As part of their opposition to the turnpike , Tulsans Against Turnpikes challenged this right . The group announced in April 1989 that if the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) , U.S. Department of Transportation ( USDOT ) , and U.S. Department of Defense ( DOD ) did not force OTA to conduct an EIS within 60 days they would sue the three federal agencies . Tulsans Against Turnpikes , joined by an area homeowners ' association , John Reidel ( a homeowner whose property was condemned by OTA and had filed previous suits as early as the 1950s to stop the turnpike 's construction ) , and several other affected individuals , filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma on August 10 . Defendants in the suit included the federal agencies , state transportation and environmental agencies , and the city of Tulsa . That November , Tulsans Against Turnpikes filed a motion requesting an injunction against further work on the turnpike . 
