Senator Schumer Writes Letter Urging FAA to Forgo Support of Temporary Restraining Order

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer wrote a letter last week to Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) Administrator Michael P. Huerta, urging the FAA to forgo its support of a temporary restraining order on the Town of East Hampton to prevent the implementation of the Town’s aircraft noise ordinances.

In April, Friends of East Hampton Airport filed a legal action in federal court seeking to prevent the implementing of the laws issued, which caused the Town to defer implementing the laws until the court hearing.

In June, the court affirmed the Town of East Hampton’s legal right to adopt laws putting restrictions to address the problem of excessive airport noise at East Hampton Airport, stating that “it cannot be argued that the Town lacked the data to support a finding of a noise problem at the Airport,” according to East Hampton Town.

The court upheld two local laws proposed by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez instituting year-round curfews: one, a mandatory nighttime curfew, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., and the other, an extended curfew on noisy aircraft, from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m.

The court also enjoined third law imposing a one-trip-a-week restriction. A fourth law was not challenged.

The laws were put in place starting July 2.

However, according to Schumer, even though the federal funding previously assured by the FAA that it would not intervene was dropped, but East Hampton Town is still facing objections from the FAA regarding these laws.

“For years, residents of the East End have been faced with incessant aircraft noise throughout the summer months,” according to a press release from Schumer’s office. “In the past, the Town was subject to federal ANCA regulations as a recipient of FAA funding, but when the Town voluntarily stopped receiving funding, the grant assurances expired and enabled the Town to set access restriction without FAA approval. This was confirmed in a FAA letter sent to former Congressman Tim Bishop.”

“The FAA is creating an unnecessary amount of turbulence over control of the East Hampton Airport. They should honor their prior position on non-intervention and let the Town defend the regulations on their own legal merits,” Schumer said in a press release. “The Town of East Hampton is already trying to cope with the challenge of managing aircraft noise, and it doesn’t need more background noise from the FAA.”

A copy of Schumer’s letter can be read below:

Dear Administrator Huerta:

I write regarding the local ordinances regulating airport use and aircraft noise recently adopted by the Town of East Hampton to urge the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to refrain from joining in the legal action against these regulations being pursued by a coalition of aviation businesses.

Previously, the FAA indicated that it would not take or support legal actions against the Town of Easthampton if it established reasonable airport use regulations, so the FAA decision to support the temporary restraining order (TRO) was disappointing and inconsistent. Therefore, I urge the FAA to refrain from joining in any further legal action in this matter, especially as it related to the underlying merits of the case.

Residents on the East End of Long Island experience a high volume of helicopter and aircraft noise, especially over the summer months. As aircraft traffic into and out of the East Hampton Airport increases, many residents believe their quality of life decreases. For years, as air traffic increased, so did complaints from residents and the desire to mitigate the noise problem. Yet the Town was constrained from acting because the airport received FAA grants money, which required it to adhere to federal rules and refrain from passing their own.

Last year, however, the Town of East Hampton let their FAA grant assurances expire, and decided to forego future funding from the FAA, including funding from the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). The Town deliberately took these steps so that they would have the legal standing to implement and enforce these new ordinances without violating FAA rules. Because the Town is no longer accepting federal funding from the FAA, they hold they should be free to implement ordinances like these without unnecessary interference or objection from the FAA, as long as they do not limit operations in an unreasonable, arbitrary, or discriminatory way. Specifically, in April the East Hampton Town Board adopted ordinances banning all flights between 11:00pm and 7:00am, and limiting the flight of certain aircraft. The Town also adopted an ordinance limiting noisy aircraft to one takeoff and landing per week between May and September.

In the spirit and letter of the previous FAA assurance to former Congressman Tim Bishop that it would not oppose reasonable local regulations, I urge the FAA to withdraw from the legal fight over the East Hampton Airport noise ordinances and to allow the community to confront the legal challenge to implement the rules they feel are necessary to maintain their quality of life.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senate