July 2022 MCQSC Update: Southern California Quiet Skies Group Requests Action from Transportation Secretary Buttigieg
Excellent letter today, July 6, from our colleagues in southern California, Studio City Quiet Skies, to Secretary Buttiegieg.
MCQSC was one of the signatories on the Feb. 2022 letter to Secretary Buttigieg that is referenced in today's follow-up letter.
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From: Kimberly Turner
Date: Wed, Jul 6, 2022 at 11:51 AM
Subject: Re: NATIONWIDE COMMUNITY GROUPS REQUESTING ACTION FROM SEC. BUTTIGIEG
To: Ramirez, Justin (OST)
Dear Mr. Ramirez,
I'm checking back in again to see if Secretary Buttigieg has seen the below email that I sent on April 25. I saw him on 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago. He stated that, "if Federal dollars were used to divide a city, they should be used to reconnect it." I realize he was referring to freeways (hard infrastructure) dividing communities. I can't help but draw the comparison to the FAA and NextGen. NextGen has been destroying communities around the country with "freeways in the sky" -- highly concentrated low and loud flight paths devastating communities away from airports that never had air traffic before.
The OIG Reports of 2019 and 2021 declared NextGen a failed project that is falling significantly short of expectations, and did not consider the communities below when it was designed. Please review the 2021 OIG Report. Please see in particular this excerpt from the audit report summary:
"FAA’s most recent business case projects total NextGen benefits to be over $100 billion less than the Joint Planning and Development Office’s original estimate, and benefits actually achieved to date have been minimal and difficult to measure. FAA’s projections were optimistic about traffic growth and did not account for risk factors."
Communities across the country, not in the immediate vicinity surrounding airports, are suffering from constant noise and pollution from relocated and concentrated new flight tracks under FAA's NextGen. It would require far less government dollars to fix freeways in the sky than it would to fix freeways on the ground. Many of these flight track issues could be resolved if the FAA would disperse paths while over communities and focus the paths only once they are outside city centers and above 10,000 feet. This would be a simple fix and would serve to repair severe damage done to communities across the nation. Millions impacted by NextGen have had their lives destroyed and expect Secretary Buttigieg to fix this issue -- as it is he hasn't even acknowledged that the issue exists -- and that has not gone unnoticed.
Please also review this Nov. 2019 New York Times article regarding the devastating impacts on the ground from FAA NextGen. The FAA has so far refused to even acknowledge these problems.
FAA NextGen is a failed program with minimal efficiency improvements, but huge societal impacts. Millions of Americans are expecting Secretary Buttigieg to work with affected communities to implement solutions immediately.
I would appreciate the name/email of the individuals that you are forwarding my emails to at DOT.
Best,
Kimberly Turner