Environmental activists at Save the Sound, a nonprofit with a mission “to protect and improve the land, air, and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound,” have filed an appeal of the recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ruling approving the Environmental Assessment that will allow Tweed-New Haven Airport to expand its footprint.
The appeal, which was filed on Wednesday, asks the Justice Department to reverse the FAA’s decision and force the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority to conduct the much more extensive Environmental Impact Statement.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
Save the Sound isn’t the only organization outraged over the proposed expansion, which would increase the size of the runway and expand the apron for planes. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Connecticut’s Department of Health and Human Services, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, officials from East Haven, and residents living near the airport have all expressed concerns over how much the development could impact both the surrounding community and the local ecology, including tidal wetlands at the edge of the airport property.
Town officials in East Haven have also signaled a plan to file their own appeal, adding to Save the Sound’s legal action.
The Airport Authority contends that expanding the airport would actually be better for air quality because it would allow larger and less frequent flights out of the airport. Save the Sound, however, says this assumes that the passenger rate would not increase and argues that the whole point of an expansion – including expanded parking – is to increase passenger demand for flights.
Meanwhile, the Airport Authority was also the subject of a recent audit report from the State Auditors of Public Accounts.
The audit included only one finding, stating that the Airport Authority has failed to contract for annual compliance audits. These audits ensure they adhere to “regulations concerning affirmative action, personnel practices, purchase of goods and services, and use of surplus funds during the audited period.”
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I prefer to call the planned updates to Tweed Airport as improvements which will enable the available newest and most efficient aircraft to serve area residents. Almost certainly most area residents remain happy with these developments as they chose to move near an airport that has been in operation since 1931.
here’s an idea for the air quality concern , stop the chem trails!?!? Del Bigtree did a detailed episode on those nasty chemical dumping trails. Larger planes may equal less flights….ha ha ha
My residence at 96 Victor Street is directly on the fence line of the main Robinson Aviation hanger which I believe is on the easterly side of the existing Tweed terminal. Since the arrival of Avelo Airlines with all its noise, pollution and traffic has drastically changed our way of life. It’s for certain that the future looks quite glim given the global climate change issue and being exposed to the one-hundred-year flood plain in which we reside itself is still another potential hazard. Without going into further details of all the environmental catastrophes which may occur as well our town’s infrastructure capabilities to handle the influx of all the traffic activity is yet another nightmare. I certainly hope that all parties involved will reconsider a furthermore intensive study of this potentially devastating project.