Local residents, lawmaker fight for safer, quieter skies

In early January, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy voted against the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act because it did not include a formal environmental review to study the impact of aircraft air and noise pollution on Nassau County residents.

Within the long-term funding bill for the FAA, according to Shams Tarek, communications director for McCarthy, are provisions related to aspects of aviation such as the “NextGen” Air Transportation System, which aims to shorten routes, save fuel, reduce traffic and boost the number of passengers. Airplane and airport noise, emissions and workforce matters are also included.

The bill, HR 658, passed without McCarthy’s vote: 248 to 169. “The most critical impact for communities in Nassau County that Rep. McCarthy is concerned about is the bill’s lack of a requirement for a formal environmental review for air and noise pollution,” Tarek said.

Saul Klausner, a 15-year Lawrence resident and a member of the Town-Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Abatement Committee [TVASNAC], which has representatives from Atlantic Beach, Cedarhurst, East Williston, Floral Park, Garden City, Hewlett Harbor, Inwood, Island Park, Lawrence, Long Beach, Malverne, New Hyde Park, Stewart Manor, Valley Stream and Woodsburgh, seeks to address issues surrounding airports.

Klausner said he is not familiar with how McCarthy voted on the bill, but said he realizes lawmakers must be part of the process. “We certainly need political power to get things done,” he said. “It’s practically impossible because we’re dealing with the federal government and you have to have legislation to make changes.”

Klausner said the TVASNAC committee faces challenges because changing airplane routes and other drastic adjustments are difficult to make. “The truth of the matter is people who have lived here for many years are accustomed to [the noise],” he said. “But it’s getting worse. The old planes have loud engines while the newer planes are quieter. The freight planes that come at night are the noisiest.”