Founding Goals
(1) For communities that self-identify as being negatively impacted by aviation noise and pollution conduct local cumulative health impact analyses. Follow-up public health impact assessments will be conducted for those communities found to experience disproportionate burdens resulting from the cumulative impact of social and environmental vulnerabilities, including socioeconomic factors, sensitive populations, environmental exposures and effects, and public health effects. Require community involvement and provide technical assistance grants to support that involvement.
(2) Lower the national sound level measurement criterion from 65 DNL to 55 DNL as an interim measure. Update the calculation & modeling methods to better reflect human experience of episodic aviation noise and vibration, including model validation with measured acoustic data recorded in communities located below flight paths.
(3) Develop and employ metrics that better reflect the effect of number and character of noise events on the human experience. In addition to event count, this metric should take into account spectral characteristics of sounds (vibration, rumbling, roaring, whining, whistling) as well as sound intensity.
(4) Mandate that approaches and departure routes may only be created if they are environmentally sound and if they are created with input from affected communities, including meaningful community-level application of Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.”
(5) Restore full funding to the EPA's Office of Noise Abatement and Control. Give the agency broader powers to regulate aviation noise and air pollution including the development of Performance Partnership Agreements, or similar negotiated agreements, with states and local governments currently delegated to implement The Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet Communities Act of 1978 with respect to aviation. Give the agency the mandate to review additions or changes to aircraft routes as regards noise and other environmental impacts.
(6) Repeal section 213-c of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012 and rescind Part 5 of FAA Draft Order 1050.1f. Return to full NEPA environmental procedures and calculate environmental impacts by cumulative, rather than per flight, measures.
(7) Create a national federal commission to oversee aviation policy and practices, with equal representation from the FAA, the aviation industry, airport operators, elected officials, municipalities and community advocacy groups.
(8) Retire Stage 3 aircraft no later than January 1, 2017. Require that all aircraft be re-engined with quiet technology engines.
(9) Appoint 10 community advocacy organizations from around the country to the RTCA's NextGen Advisory Committee and make the selection process open and transparent. Appoint community advocacy organizations as members of FAA rule-making committees where those committees enact rules that have an effect on communities. Livestream all NAC meetings.
(10) Hire a full-time professional ombudsman for each FAA regional office with the authority to get answers to questions and resolve disputes between the public and the FAA at every level of the agency.
(11) Use NextGen technology to develop fanned, more spread out (rather than concentrated) approach and departure routes with consideration of underlying population density. Use NextGen technology to ensure that the noise burden is borne more equitably.
(12) Require all Airbus series-A320 aircraft (A318, A319, A320 and A321, and ACJ business jet) flying in U.S. airspace be retrofitted with whine-reducing vortex generators in front of Fuel Over Pressure Protector (FOPP) cavities, effective immediately.