The citizens’ organization, Quiet Skies, made up of communities around the nation impacted by airport operations, is making its views about the increasing impacts of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (“FAA”) NextGen initiative known to new Secretary of Transportation Buttigeig at the very dawn of his tenure. Alison Pepper, a Quiet Skies activist, has drafted a letter to the new Secretary in which she argues the steady worsening of NextGen’s noise, air quality, and other environmental impacts on diverse regions around the United States; the absence of benefits to safety and efficiency of air operations originally promised as the justification for NextGen’s initiation; and the origin of these problems in the symbiotic relationship between FAA and the airline industry.
Quiet Skies solicited readers to send the attached letter to their Representatives, and, independently to Secretary Buttigeig.
The goal is to ensure their understanding of the geographic scope and severity of NextGen’s impacts, which have thus far been handled by affected communities through the courts on a case by case basis. Stay tuned for the results of this widespread effort to inform decision makers and thereby gain relief.