County seeks review of FAA
Files U.S. Court of Appeals petition to resolve complaints about noise
Howard County officials are asking a federal court to review Federal Aviation Administration policies they say are leading to noise from low-flying planes at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
It’s the latest action in a dispute that dates back to July, when the county filed an administrative petition with the FAA seeking “immediate” action to resolve complaints from communities near the airport and change flight paths of arriving and departing jets.
The county renewed its push last month, filing a new petition with the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va.
A community roundtable advisory group has said a new air-traffic control system known as NextGen causes more noise as jets fly lower, and Howard County has joined the state, which already had been pressing for changes.
Critics argue the system has exacerbated noise in neighborhoods, including Hanover, Elkridge and Columbia, that are under BWI flight paths.
By 2025, airports around the country are expected to be fully equipped with the GPS-based technology at a cost of $35 billion. The FAA expects the system will save $160 billion in fuel and other costs by 2023.
The new routes at BWI were implemented in 2015. In 2013, the airport received 283 noise complaints, according to data provided by the Maryland Aviation Association. In 2015, the number of complaints reached 1,850. This year, the number of complaints soared to 122,780 through November.
Approximately 80 percent of them orginated from less than 100 users of a third-party application, a website called airnoise.io that since August has allowed residents to file complaints, according to Jonathan Dean, a spokesman for the Maryland Aviation Association.
The FAA in July stopped engaging with the roundtable after Attorney General Brian Frosh filed a petition requesting a change in flight patterns to reduce noise.
In an administrative petition, Howard County described the agency’s decision as an abandonment “in the resolution process the FAA dictated.” The petition also described the agency’s actions in implementing new routes at BWI as “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and unprincipled.”
In September, the agency declined to engage the administrative petition, saying there was “no major federal action associated with these actions” and the procedures at BWI were “fully implemented” and finished “years ago.”
Last month, the county asked the court of appeals to review “unlawful implementation and continued use of new concentrated arrival and departure routes and newflightprocedures” bytheFAAatBWI.
Baltimore Sun reporter Colin Campbell contributed to this article. elogan@baltsun.com
It’s the latest action in a dispute that dates back to July, when the county filed an administrative petition with the FAA seeking “immediate” action to resolve complaints from communities near the airport and change flight paths of arriving and departing jets.
The county renewed its push last month, filing a new petition with the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va.
A community roundtable advisory group has said a new air-traffic control system known as NextGen causes more noise as jets fly lower, and Howard County has joined the state, which already had been pressing for changes.
Critics argue the system has exacerbated noise in neighborhoods, including Hanover, Elkridge and Columbia, that are under BWI flight paths.
By 2025, airports around the country are expected to be fully equipped with the GPS-based technology at a cost of $35 billion. The FAA expects the system will save $160 billion in fuel and other costs by 2023.
The new routes at BWI were implemented in 2015. In 2013, the airport received 283 noise complaints, according to data provided by the Maryland Aviation Association. In 2015, the number of complaints reached 1,850. This year, the number of complaints soared to 122,780 through November.
Approximately 80 percent of them orginated from less than 100 users of a third-party application, a website called airnoise.io that since August has allowed residents to file complaints, according to Jonathan Dean, a spokesman for the Maryland Aviation Association.
The FAA in July stopped engaging with the roundtable after Attorney General Brian Frosh filed a petition requesting a change in flight patterns to reduce noise.
In an administrative petition, Howard County described the agency’s decision as an abandonment “in the resolution process the FAA dictated.” The petition also described the agency’s actions in implementing new routes at BWI as “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and unprincipled.”
In September, the agency declined to engage the administrative petition, saying there was “no major federal action associated with these actions” and the procedures at BWI were “fully implemented” and finished “years ago.”
Last month, the county asked the court of appeals to review “unlawful implementation and continued use of new concentrated arrival and departure routes and newflightprocedures” bytheFAAatBWI.
Baltimore Sun reporter Colin Campbell contributed to this article. elogan@baltsun.com
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
