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Citizen victory and settlement against the FAA in Phoenix

11/30/2017

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Great news from citizens in Phoenix, who have forced the FAA to settle their complaints against the runaway agency, and its arbitrary implementation of new NextGen flight departures out of Sky Harbor airport. 

I had the opportunity to work with the citizen activists in Phoenix as they were just getting started in their quest against the FAA, and I am delighted the rogue agency is being forced to heel to local concerns. 

Again - Government Of, By, For, not TO the People. This is a great victory for citizens against an unaccountable agency, depriving citizens of property rights, and subjecting them to physical and emotional harm.

​Well done, Phoenix!
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MSP FairSkies Coalition presents to the Noise Oversight Committee

9/21/2017

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MSPFSC NOC 20 Sept 2017 from Kevin Terrell on Vimeo.

Staff from MSP airport's environmental team asked MSP FairSkies Coalition to present some of our requests to the airport's Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) on September 20th. My fellow Co-Founder Steve Kittleson and I addressed the NOC regarding our proposal for "Less Noise, No Surprises" with respect to aircraft noise. Here we lay out a path to get there, including:
- Aligning around the nature of the problem
- How to use new and existing data to create a more transparent fact base for better decision-making on noise in general, and with respect to any proposed changes the FAA has in store for MSP
- Establishing a firm goal for noise reduction (we propose a 50% reduction by 2025)
- Enhancing the NOC, with the addition of citizen (non-elected) representatives to truly bring the "Voice of Citizen" to the decision making process. We also suggest that the NOC's mission and name should change from "Noise OVERSIGHT Committee" to "Noise REDUCTION Committee".

​We conclude the presentation with a very specific set of decisions for the NOC on what they can do to inform the community and align the stakeholders around the goal of reducing aircraft noise from MSP airport.

You can't see the (4-part) screen that well, but you should be able to hear the presentation, and the back and forth on questions. You can download the PDF of the presentation and follow along here:
mspfsc_noc_20_sept_2017_final.pdf
File Size: 4247 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

"That helps us all get to data-driven decisions based on citizen expectations. Which I think should be a common goal of everyone on the room."
Afterwards we heard from MAC staff about their interpretation of the recent DC Court of Appeals decision striking down FAA actions in Phoenix (panic alert in DC). You can read my (non-legal) interpretation of that decision here.

MAC staff also told the room that the FAA is finally preparing to announce how it might change the metrics and/or threshold for the significant impact of noise. Staff expects that to happen by the end of the year, though we'll see how that plays out. I expect the timing of that announcement to affect the response we get from the NOC.

Thanks to Chad Leqve and Dana Nelson of the MAC, and to Connie Carrino of our team for making this happen.
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Citizens group seeks to redefine MSP noise contours

9/5/2017

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Janet Moore of the Star Tribune does a nice job today of updating local residents on our efforts at MSP FairSkies Coalition to improve transparency and accountability on the issue of aircraft  noise.

Next steps in our efforts include speaking directly to the MSP airport's Noise Oversight Committee about our specific goals for measuring, communicating and ultimately reducing aircraft noise in the Twin Cities.  Some of that is mentioned in the article, and of course various posts on this blog.

Interestingly this article appears just days after citizens and the city of Phoenix won a great  victory in their court case against Federal Aviation Administration. The central concern in that case  was the imposition of new flight tracks and noise on Phoenix, the lack of transparency in the process, and ultimately the lack of common sense in how the FAA deals with aircraft noise. 

Picture is by Mark VacCleave of the Star Tribune
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The City of Phoenix v. FAA - Common Sense, Arithmetic and History

9/4/2017

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​On August 29th, 2017 the DC Court of Appeals delivered an eagerly awaited blow against the Federal Aviation Administration when the Court vacated the FAA’s order implementing new flight tracks from Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, and remanded the matter to the FAA for further proceedings. The case came about when the FAA implemented new flight tracks as part of its NextGen technology package in Phoenix.
 
Having now read the full ruling, I want to call attention to aspects of it I think have implications far beyond how the FAA implements NextGen. Specifically, the Court recognized a few simple facts that seem obvious to citizens, but have thus far eluded the Courts and the FAA. Those are:

  1. A 300% increase in the number of flights over a neighborhood is a lot, regardless of how the FAA measures noise (i.e. the logarithmic measurement known as DNL).
  2. Thinking otherwise defies “common sense”, and “could not reflect reasoned decisionmaking (sic).”
  3. History, and longstanding flight tracks matter, because they help create “quiet oases” that people value, even in urban areas. Destroying those when the FAA has options is problematic and illegal.
 
A few details from the ruling:

Read More
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MSP aircraft noise, 2016 update

5/11/2016

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A quick update on our activities at the MSP FairSkies Coalition, and what we see happening in the next year or so.  I'll likely turn this into a short narrated presentation in the next couple of weeks as we finalize some numbers. 

Big takeaway: the number of people impacted by aircraft noise near MSP airport continues to rise. The 55 dB DNL contour population expanded by 9% in Minneapolis, and over 100% in St Louis Park. An open question is how much of that is due to NextGen arrivals going into effect, and how much is due to late night/early morning flights?

The noise exposure map (detail to  your left) is thanks to a data release from the Metropolitan Airports Commission and analysis by our friends at the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

Quick 2-page PDF here.
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The Illogic and Impact of NextGen

4/23/2016

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A great overview of the impact of NextGen on residents in the SFO Bay Area, produced by fellow citizen activists from Sky Posse Los Altos.

Of course, it's the same story as everywhere else across the country (and the world ) - new flight tracks, nonsensical "logic" from the FAA, and thousands of people with their homes and lives turned upside down. 

8 minutes

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New Bay Area select committee formed for aircraft noise

4/18/2016

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The non-stop absurdity of the FAA in its implementation of NextGen flight paths has resulted in three congressional representatives banding together to form a new advisory group to San Francisco's SFO noise roundtable.

This appears to be somewhat similar to the Noise Oversight Committee we have in Minnesota at MSP, which is not a bad thing. Not a panacea, but it potentially offers citizens a more direct path to the FAA on critical issues.

The backstory here is classic FAA - Rep. Eshoo put in place an agreement with the FAA about a decade ago on how planes can enter into the complicated SFO airspace. When implementing NextGen, they just threw that out the window and changed the flight paths to areas that had not had aircraft noise. Defies all logic.

Downstate in San Diego, the FAA has been trying to pull the same thing, with violations of what is known as the "Red Dot" agreement.  That is all about to either get resolved, or turn into yet another lawsuit. Great teams of citizen activists are all over this in both locations.  And of course in between near LAX.
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Letter from Senators Feinstein and Boxer to FAA

4/15/2016

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​Other than McCain and Flake, we've seen next to nothing from anyone in the Senate about NextGen and the FAA's indifference to citizen complaints. Despite the fact that there are multiple ongoing lawsuits about the matter, and the FAA reauthorization bill is being actively considered.

A letter from Senators Feinstein and Boxer to Administrator Heurta at least is movement. Of course, what we want is active support for McCain and Flakes bill, and support for Rep. Meng over in the House. 
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    Kevin Terrell

    Sure, e-books have a place in the world. I just prefer real ones, in order to make the job a bit harder for any real life Winston Smith who might be out there.

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