Pols Call FAA "Lawless" And "Arrogant" Agency

Several New York-area politicians aren't taking too kindly to the Federal Aviation Administration right now.

As ANN reported, the FAA announced Wednesday it had issued a final decision for redesigning the New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia metropolitan area airspace -- a move the agency asserts will reduce delays, fuel consumption, aircraft emissions and noise.

The FAA says it did extensive analysis and held more than 120 public meetings in five states throughout the environmental process. The airspace redesign involved a 31,000-square-mile area over New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut with a population of 29 million residents. Twenty-one airports were included in the study.

"The federal government is not above the law," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at a redesign protest rally on Aug. 29 attended by about 40 people and hosted by the New Canaan Environmental Group, according to the New Canaan Advertiser.

Blumenthal called the agency a "lawless government" because it did not make an environmental impact statement public, a move that could interpreted as a violation of the law.

Michael G. Kroposki, a retired attorney, said the FAA can skirt public disclosure because environmental concerns are determined by the number of delays that cause aircraft to remain in the air thus increasing pollution levels.  He contends a study leading to the redesign decision was a "blue-sky analysis," done on a day with good weather. A day with good weather will have the least number of aircraft stuck in the air for any length of time. 

"With all due respect, the FAA is the most arrogant agency I've dealt with," said Fourth District U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays. His bill to block FAA redesign funding was defeated 65-360 in the House. The FAA has declined to meet with him, as well.

Shays has been an outspoken critic of the integrated airspace proposal and has said publicly the chosen plan is "unreasonable" because it fails to account for the plan's impact on the quality of life of those below the proposed routes.

"The FAA's proposal to mitigate noise has made no attempt to explore alternative routes over less populated areas, nor has it set recommended restrictions on minimum altitude," he said.

Shays suggested an "FAA watch group" be formed, a widespread group to gather consistent data on airspace use and file appropriate complaints with the government.

"Our laws do not give us the tools to confront the FAA," Shays said. "Quality of life matters."

New York's Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef agrees on the environmental issue. He said Thursday his county is going to file a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration over the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia region airspace redesign, as ANN reported.

Vanderhoef said the county believes the chosen plan, among other things, violates the national Environmental Policy Act, according to the Journal News.

"This particular agency is one that apparently is hell-bent on doing what it needs to do to get this plan in order and therefore is ignoring the law," Vanderhoef said. "We're going to hold them to the law and that's what this litigation is about."

"A powerful legal coalition can defeat this misguided plan because the FAA failed to consider the harmful effect of its proposed new flight pattern on our environment and quality of life. I have begun to assemble this coalition, combining state and local authorities, to challenge the FAA's rerouting projects as legally flawed and environmentally clueless," said Blumenthal in a statement.

"One of our key points: the FAA has ignored its clear legal obligation to consider feasible alternatives that would reduce air traffic delays with far less damage to natural resources and quality of life. Arrogantly and improperly, the FAA has disregarded its duty to listen --refusing to hold sufficient hearings for views and voices of citizens to be heard."

New Canaan Environmental Group President Richard Stowe wants to petition as well as sue the FAA to get its point across.

"Petitions are good, but not enough ... we need to have a mass write-in to demand a public hearing," he said.

Stowe also wants to bring Newark Liberty International Airport into the fray and file a suit against it as well saying it should be held accountable, too.

"If we sue Newark Airport, that puts them up against a wall," he said.

FMI: www.ct.gov/ag, www.nceg.org, www.newarkairport.com