Public hearings to discuss environmental impact statement
scheduled for next month
The Federal Aviation
Administration’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
that addresses proposals for two new runways and related
improvements at Washington Dulles International Airport is
available for public review on the internet and at various
locations throughout the Washington (DC) metropolitan area.
The FAA will hold two combined open houses and public hearings
on the draft impact statement in February. The open houses will
provide extensive information about the proposed project, and the
public hearings provide an opportunity for people to comment on the
Draft EIS.
The first open house/public hearing will be held on February 22
at Farmwell Station Middle School, 44281 Gloucester Parkway in
Ashburn (VA). The open house runs from 1700 to 2000, and the public
hearing runs from 1800 to 2000.
The second open house/public hearing will be held the next
night, February 23, at Stone Middle School, 5500 Sully Park Drive
in Centreville (VA), with an open house from 1700 to 2000 and the
public hearing from 1800 to 2000.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the airport
operator, has proposed an additional north-south runway, a new
east-west runway, and parallel and connector taxiways. The
authority’s plan also calls for development of a third
midfield concourse and navigational aids. Two alternatives to the
proposed action and a no-build (or no-action) alternative are
evaluated in the Draft EIS.
The Draft EIS addresses the potential impact of the proposed
project and reasonable alternatives in the areas of noise and land
use, air quality, wetlands, land acquisition, historic properties
and surface transportation.
The Draft EIS does not offer any final decisions on the proposed
Dulles project and does not propose any mitigation measures for the
environmental issues studied. It is one of the steps in the
FAA’s comprehensive analysis of the airport authority’s
proposal and of various reasonable alternatives. After the FAA
holds public hearings and reviews all comments, it will develop
measures to mitigate the environmental impacts identified, based on
whether the authority’s proposal or an alternative is
selected. These would be described in the Final EIS and the Record
of Decision that follows.
The public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement runs from January 21 to March 7. The public may submit
verbal and written comments during the public hearing or mail their
comments to Brad Mehaffy, FAA Washington Airports District Office,
23723 Air Freight Lane, Suite 210, Dulles, VA 20166. Members
of the public who require special assistance to attend or
participate in the open house/public hearing process may call
Janette Crumley at (757) 460-4183 at least 48 hours before either
open house/public hearing.
The DEIS also will be available at the following locations:
- Fairfax County - Centreville Regional Library,
Chantilly Regional Library, Great Falls Library, Herndon
Fortnightly Library, Reston Regional Library, Fairfax City Regional
Library and the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library.
- Loudoun County - Ashburn Library, Rust
Library, Middleburg Library, Purcellville Library, Sterling Library
and the Eastern Loudoun Regional Library.
- Dulles - FAA Airport District Office,
23723 Air Freight Lane, Suite 210 and Washington Dulles
International Airport Manager’s Office, Main Terminal Baggage
Claim Level. If you want to review the DEIS at either Dulles
location, you must call the FAA at (703) 661-1364 or MWAA at (703)
572-2710 to make an appointment.
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