Dear Friends,
We hope that you are well and trust that all are appreciative of being able to open our windows this Summer. Thanks to all for continuing to report the stand out noisy flights!
Please see below:
- CALL TO ACTION (by Monday) Proposed rulemaking for Supersonic Transport
- SFO Noise Monitor
- Sky Posse Noise and Air Quality Survey
- Litigation Issues - Heads up!
Proposed Rulemaking for Supersonic Transport:
Today we submitted a
letter
to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), regarding Congress’s initiative to certify Supersonic Transport.
See the
European Commission Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
suggestions for the US Department of Transportation. However, unlike the EU, the US does not identify or mitigate noise for what the EU calls an “unacceptable situation.” Unacceptable noise thresholds in Europe are orders of magnitude less permissive than FAA’s standards.
CALL TO ACTION:
Please submit a comment to the US Department of Transportation via this link by Monday July 13th.
Use your own words so that duplicates are not filtered out; noting that aircraft noise since NextGen was introduced has not been solved, people are still suffering; the FAA should not compound this problem by adding supersonic aircraft to the mix given the FAA's shortcomings in managing aviation noise.
SFO Noise Monitor:
San Francisco Airport has responded to the City of Palo Alto’s request for a noise monitor.
SFO had previously said they did not put up the noise monitor due to SFO not having enough money. Only now has a new requirement appeared that the FAA has to give permission. We are following up with Representative Eshoo, and the SCSC roundtable for an update.
Sky Posse Noise and Air Quality Survey:
Thank you! to all who have participated in the survey we launched last month.
Litigation Issues - Heads up!
The regional roundtables and FAA are still talking but they are not delivering on the FAA’s Initiative, or the Select Committee to address concentration of traffic, and night time operations. We are also not seeing signs that roundtables are willing to use objective analysis or criteria to inform use of technical resources needed to explore alternatives. For example now is the best time to organize pre- and post- implementation noise measurements. And, by the end of this year there are deadlines to file Petitions for Review to obtain environmental assessments on several Metroplex procedures; petitions for review are due within 60 days after a procedure is published on the
IFP Gateway
.
We strongly believe that challenging inadequate environmental reviews should be a regional effort carried out by municipalities or counties as public interest challenges. Unfortunately, these representatives have proved to be unwilling to challenge the FAA or airports. By early Fall, individuals who are interested in investing in litigation to incentivize due process will need to have a plan.
We do want to alert citizens that positions about litigation will be needed by late Fall if local leaders and regional roundtables continue to stall and fail to provide reasonable responses to our appeals. Our volunteer efforts are not currently structured to pursue a legal strategy - which would require funding and professional services - but this may need to change. We are evaluating how and where to best focus our attention in the future. Please share your ideas and thoughts on this topic by sending an email to
info@skypossepaloalto.org
.
