Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
Schumer to FAA: take Oceanic routing off the table
Senator Asks FAA to Come to Staten Island and Listen to Residents, Address Arlington Noise Concern in Environmental Impact Statement
In light of the fact that many Staten Island residents are extremely concerned about the repercussions in the forthcoming Federal Aviation Administration airspace redesign, today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer – standing with Borough President James Molinaro and Assemblyman Michael Cusick – asked the FAA to eliminate consideration of permanent “Oceanic Routing” flight routes. Oceanic routes in and out of Newark airport heavily impact Staten Island and are very costly. Schumer today also asked the FAA to hold another open forum on Staten Island to hear residents concerns.
In his letter to Administrator Blakey, Schumer wrote, “In the most recent DEIS, the FAA concluded that Oceanic Routing does not meet the “purpose and need” of airspace redesign. I fail to understand why, after such lengthy and costly analysis, the FAA is again considering this option. To put it bluntly, it is a bad idea that should be killed, not kept on life support in the environmental impact statement.”
Borough President James P. Molinaro said, “Hopefully with the impact of Senator Schumer’s statement today, the FAA will remove the proposal for Ocean Routing, which in reality is Over Staten Island Routing. This is an issue that my office has been fighting over the last decade. Hopefully the FAA will see the merit of removing this route.”
“Whenever the government considers wholesale changes that affect Staten Island’s communities, it’s imperative that residential concerns are heard loud and clear,” said Cusick. “While Staten Island residents are more than sympathetic to the need for increasing regional air travel, they already suffer from a significant noise burden and shouldn’t be asked to shoulder even more.”
Oceanic Routing has long been considered an onerous noise burden for Staten Island residents and inefficient for the regions’ airports and economy. It would direct planes leaving Newark to the New York side of the harbor, then up the Arthur Kill, to the lower bay, on their way to making their final ascents. Currently, air traffic controllers use Oceanic Routing only when necessitated by weather. The proposal to advance permanent Oceanic Routing would result in Staten Island residents bearing an inequitable burden of air plane noise. Schumer said today that one community shouldn’t be responsible for absorbing the lion share of airplane noise from Newark Airport. The FAA has twice before considered redirecting departing nighttime aircraft from Newark International Airport over the South Shore of Staten Island permanently, but both times the FAA rejected the plan as impractical and costly.
The negative economic impacts of permanent Oceanic Routing are staggering. The FAA has spent at least $6 million studying oceanic routing and has found that redirecting night traffic from Newark over Staten Island would cost $300 million a year in fuel costs alone. That cost will be passed along to the already overstressed air travel consumer. In addition, because of the interdependency of regional transportation systems, delays and inefficiency will tax capacity at LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports, leading to increased flight delays and vehicular traffic.
Opposition to Ocean Routing has come from a wide range of industry leaders, community groups and governmental entities, including the owner and operator of New York’s Airports – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA). The PA strongly objects to Oceanic Routing, writing that, “implementing the Oceanic Routing Procedure will cripple the local economy…radically increase the disruption on major roadways, and on air quality in the region…Oceanic Routing needs to be eliminated from all future consideration.”
Schumer also said today that extending the deadline for public comment to July 1 should give the FAA ample time to remove the Oceanic Routing proposal and address noise concerns in Arlington. He asked them during that time to hold another open forum on State Island so that residents and community leaders may share their concerns with the FAA directly.
“Redesigning the airspace of New York City’s three metropolitan airports presents the perfect opportunity to increase the capacity of our overcrowded airports and address community concerns,” Schumer said. “Given the significant resources that have been invested into this study, I am disappointed that the FAA has not adequately addressed the airplane noise burden that exists in of Arlington, on the Northwest shore of Staten Island . Before they issue the EIS, I would hope that the FAA would find time to come back to Staten Island, talk to the people here, and listen to their very serious concerns.”
June 5, 2006