The Greater Rockford Airport Authority has filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dismiss a lawsuit blocking the airport’s planned expansion of its cargo operations, which would destroy a rare five-acre high-quality remnant prairie in the process. In the newly filed motion, the airport authority, along with the airport’s board of commissioners and Executive Director Michael Dunn argue that Natural Land Institute, long time stewards of Bell Bowl Prairie, had no standing to sue in the first place. Bell Bowl Prairie, is located within the airport’s boundaries. The $50 million expansion project calls for construction of a new road that would slice through the prairie, which is home to a number of threatened plant species, as well as the federal endangered rusty patched bumble bee.