Sep 4, 2007
Shays wants second FAA hearing on air-traffic routes over Wilton
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Two weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration denied his request for a second public hearing on the proposed airspace redesign project — which could send more planes at lower altitudes over areas of Fairfield County, including Wilton — 4th District U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays is trying again.
“I’ve been doing more than almost any other member of Congress,” Rep. Shays said at a press conference Thursday, Aug. 23, when asked about the redesign. “Because we didn’t want politics to interfere with flight travel, we have created one of the most arrogant organizations that you could possibly imagine,” he said, calling the FAA a “unique breed.”
His request that the FAA hold a public hearing in the Stamford area, upon completion of its final environmental impact statement, was denied Aug. 10, said Mr. Shays. A public hearing held in Stamford in April fulfilled the organization’s legal obligations, he said.
“Well that’s not the end of it. We’re going to do our best to have a hearing,” he said, adding that he will soon travel to Boston to speak with FAA officials there.
“I think they want to railroad through their proposal,” he said, considering the FAA’s denial.
On Friday, Aug. 24, Rep. Shays renewed this request in a letter to FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey.
“I am surprised it took two months to respond to my request for a public forum and doubly surprised that my request was denied,” he wrote. “I had every reason to believe it would be honored since I simply asked that residents have their concerns heard by you or other FAA personnel. These are residents, of course, who will have negatively impacted quality of life and home values because of the absence of mitigation strategies proposed for western Fairfield County under the Integrated Airspace Alternative.”
Mr. Shays’ attempt — alongside two New Jersey Republican representatives — to block funding for the plan in July failed to win House approval by a vote of 65 to 360.
Efforts continue in New Canaan to collect signatures on a petition to U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman to convince them to force the FAA to reconsider its plan.
Petitions may be signed at various businesses in New Canaan as well as the office of New Canaan First Selectman Judy Neville and at the New Canaan town clerk’s office. There were no known petitioners in Wilton.
In Wilton, First Selectmen William Brennan has said the town is working to fight the redesign.
“We’re going to contest and fight it. We’re not going to take it lying down,” said Mr. Brennan in a recent interview. “We have to see how everyone’s impacted” because the flight routes are a regional issue.
Signers of the petition do not have to be New Canaan residents. They must be at least 18 years of age, list their street address with town and state, and their phone number with area code.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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