Efforts to expand the Tweed-New Haven airport are hitting some new hurdles as environmental activists and East Haven town officials plan legal challenges.
In December, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, stating that the proposed $165 million project to expand the runway, add parking spaces, and expand the apron would not pose a significant environmental threat to the surrounding area. On Tuesday, both town officials and leadership of Save the Sound announced they would be appealing the decision, continuing their push for a more extensive Environmental Impact Statement, instead of the Environmental Assessment.
“The environmental assessment was widely criticized as fundamentally deficient, but the FAA’s ‘finding of no significant impact’ failed to remedy these shortcomings, and instead accepted the severely flawed document almost in its totality,” said Roger Reynolds, senior legal director at Save the Sound. “Given this disregard, and the significant impacts to air quality, wetland destruction, water quality degradation, and flooding that the proposed expansion may entail, we have no choice but to appeal the decision.”
Some residents of East Haven have argued against the expansion. They have voiced concerns over noise pollution, air quality issues, and potential flooding impacts since the airport is surrounded by wetlands. The Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority has said the expansion is necessary to keep up with current regulations, and that without it, they would be forced to run more frequent flights to keep up with passenger demand, potentially causing some of the environmental impacts the residents are already worried about.
Save the Sound, though, doesn’t believe the Airport Authority is telling the whole story.
“The EA concludes that expanding the airport will be better for air quality than not expanding the airport, based on an assumption that expanding the airport’s capacity will not increase passenger demand for flights,” argues Save the Sound in a press release announcing their appeal. “Under this assumption, the EA notes that using larger aircraft means fewer planes will be needed to cover passenger demand, and that fewer planes mean lesser impacts. The whole point of the expansion, however, including a vastly expanded parking lot, is to increase the airport’s use. The increased capacity will logically lead to more flights (both passenger and freight) from larger airplanes which will worsen air quality and increase environmental impacts.”
Residents, Save the Sound, and East Haven town officials are hoping their appeal will finally force the Airport Authority to submit to the Environmental Impact Study they’ve been pushing for for the last few years. For now, things will move ahead as planned. Avports CEO Jorge Roberts told WTNH that “We will continue to follow (the EPA and FAA’s) process during any appeal procedures. Planned work toward building a new HVN will continue as that process plays out.”
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During the public comment session on the proposed expansion there were no parties in favor or the expansion. All of the public comments were against expanding the facility. All I can see in this process is the attempt to make citizens feel that they had a say, when in fact they never did.