More than 27 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration expressing their concerns over a recent report on airplane noise metrics.
In the letter to the FAA sent on Sept. 23, the members of Congress said the report was “wholly inadequate” and failed to meet the mandates of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.
Section 188 of the reauthorization act required the FAA to “evaluate alternative metrics to the current average day-night level standard, such as the use of actual noise sampling and other methods, to address airplane noise concerns.” The FAA was also required to release a report on its findings. The lawmakers said the report fails to seriously analyze and consider those alternative metrics.
U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said the FAA did not follow Congressional mandates.
“Along with my colleagues, I find the FAA’s report wholly inadequate,” Norton said. “I fought successfully to include provisions in the enacted 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act that mandated that the FAA evaluate alternative airplane noise metrics and provide Congress a report of its findings, but this report shows the FAA didn’t evaluate those alternative metrics. The FAA must provide Congress a report that meets the standards enacted in law, and it should take care to answer the questions raised in this letter as well.”
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass said the FAA would need to re-evaluate its standards.
“The FAA’s report is unacceptable,” said Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA). “The FAA failed to meet its mandate because it didn’t evaluate alternative noise metrics, standing by standards that don’t fully capture noise impacts. The FAA must go back to the drawing board and write a new report. In the meantime, I expect detailed responses to the questions raised by our constituents in this letter, and I know my colleagues want answers, too.”
The representatives asked the FAA “return to the drawing board” and evaluate the alternative metrics, as well as include the potential for their use in the report. Additionally, the Congressmembers asked the FAA to address several concerns brought by citizens regarding information within the report.