10.2 Noise Policy Recommendations

10.2.1 Recommendations for PUMA

What PUMA must do to actualize this vision (please refer to Appendix 10.1 for resources):

1. Observe and document what you see and hear. Call disturbing overflights into the DIA Noise Abatement Office (303-342-2380/1-800-417-2988, Fax 303-342-2366). Share this information with your elected officials.
2. Be politically involved with your local government. Let your county elected officials know your views on aviation pollution and it’s effect on quality of life, the protection of the environment, and the preservation of Boulder County's parks and wilderness areas.
3. Be politically involved with your federal government. Stay in touch with your elected representatives, keeping them informed about the aviation pollution situation in their state and what they can do to help. For example, ask them to actively support the Quiet Communities Act and similar legislation.
4. When camping or hiking, make note of disturbing aviation pollution. If you happen to have a camera or video camera, photograph an example of the offending aircraft. Share this with your elected officials.
5. Fly less. Consider alternatives to out of state vacations that require air travel. Re-think the value of each "business trip". Are the expected results worth the expense in time, resources and resulting pollution? Remember that each un-booked seat is a "vote" for fewer airplanes, resulting in less aviation traffic, less noise and less pollution.
6. Share your views with the airlines. Most airlines run public relations advertisements in their in-flight magazines inviting readers to "let us know how we are doing". Encourage them to push their suppliers to manufacture airplanes that have fewer emissions and make less noise.
7. Support your local activist group. Boulder County Citizens Against Aviation Noise (BC CAAN) was formed shortly after DIA opened. BC CAAN stays in touch with elected officials, DIA's Noise Abatement Office and aviation pollution issues locally, nationally and internationally through its involvement with U.S. Citizens Aviation Watch (see resources in Appendix 10.1).

Recommendations for Boulder County

Boulder County citizens and their elected officials are committed to protecting and maintaining the natural qualities and characteristics of its rural areas, national parks and wilderness, while restoring the peacefulness of its urban areas by establishing the following goals:

1. The County will support appropriate proactive measures to protect County residents and the Indian Peaks Wilderness from all forms of aviation pollution and to prevent significant deterioration of background noise levels in the unincorporated areas of the County due to aviation overflights.
   • First, the County will support the adoption of a policy and guidelines pertaining to aviation noise pollution.
   • Second, the County should petition Colorado's federal legislators and the Federal Aviation Administration to have the FAA and the City and County of Denver come into compliance with the County's aviation noise pollution policies and the commitments and standards in the 1989 DIA Environmental Impact Statement.
   • Third, the County should petition Colorado's federal legislators and the Federal Aviation Administration to declare the Indian Peaks Wilderness a "No Fly Zone" applying to commercial and private aircraft departing from or arriving at DIA.
2. The County should encourage public dialogue through public hearings, and will request representation, recourse and accountability from Denver, DIA and the FAA in all matters pertaining to aviation pollution (from DIA, local airports, flying schools, flying tours) that affect Boulder County communities.
3. The County will pursue proactive relations with neighboring counties to assure an on-going dialogue concerning noise impact issues affecting our communities.
4. The County should annually designate October as “DIA Noise Complaint Data Collection Month”. Recognizing that most citizens who phone in complaints to DIA have given up on the process, the data compiled each October by the Noise Abatement Office will provide a more accurate indication of the effectiveness of DIA's noise mitigation procedures. These data will be forwarded to the County Commissioners, Congresspersons and concerned citizens.

Recommendations for the Federal Government

We recommend:

1. The establishment of a federal oversight commission within the Environmental Protection Agency with the authority and expertise to propose, study, revise, monitor and enforce regulations pertaining to aircraft emissions and the impact of all airplane pollutants on people, communities and the environment throughout the USA.
2. A comprehensive revision of the current noise measurement standards regarding what constitutes "acceptable" and "unacceptable" sound generated by all airplanes, with the following considerations:
   • Current noise level measurements using averaging techniques do not acknowledge or quantify the real impact "single event" aviation noise has on people and wildlife.
   • Ambient noise levels are almost un-measurable in certain rural areas, so averaging “single events" over time in these settings is meaningless and unfair to the inhabitants of these areas.
   • Topography affects how sound propagates...airplane traffic over the plains has less impact than flights over canyons and mountainous terrain where sound may be reflected and reverberate for extended periods of time, exacerbating the overall impact of the already loud noise.
   • Designated wilderness areas and national park lands must be free of man-made noise, air, soil, and water pollutants originating in the sky as well as on the ground.
3. A comprehensive and holistic examination by the new EPA commission to determine the composition of and the damaging effects of the aviation industry's noise, air and water pollutants on people, wildlife, plants, both wild and cultivated, and the soil where all of our foods grow.
4. New legislation requiring that airlines assume responsibility for their roles in polluting the environment and degrading the quality of life for millions of people, with the following requirements:
   • All commercial airlines and cargo planes will have stage 3 engines by 2001.
   • "Hush kits" and other compromising retrofits will not be accepted as "stage 3" unless they are proven to be as quiet as engines designed as stage 3.
   • Ascents and descents will be optimized for minimal noise impacts.
   • Aggressive ongoing research and development must occur to document and minimize all negative by-products of the aviation industry, including noise, air, water and soil pollutants.
5. New laws that serve the public and the environment first, regulating the aviation industry and all private and recreational aircraft with the following requirements:
   • "No fly hours" must be established, during which incoming or outgoing flights are severely limited between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am daily².
   • "No fly zones" must be established whereby flight routes over established wilderness areas and national parks will not be permitted, except for emergency rescue and monitoring purposes (e.g. fire).
   • Airlines and/or individuals must be swiftly and rigorously penalized for violations of “no fly hours" and "no fly zones" restrictions, environmentally damaging actions/accidents and other infractions of established laws and/or regulations.
   • Airports, in the interest of being "good neighbors", must develop efficient and responsive communication procedures for addressing citizens complaints and problems.
   • Any new construction of/at airports or proposed changes in airport operations that may in any way degrade citizens' quality of life and the health of the environment, will be subject to full public disclosure, dialogue between decision makers and the public, and a clearly defined procedure for citizen recourse before any changes occur.
6. New federal appropriations to enable the EPA to keep the public informed about the toxic by-products of the transportation industries...including aviation, by means of public service announcements and dissemination of educational materials.
7. A differential passenger surcharge and airline fee based on the "pollution degree" of incoming and outgoing aircraft will be collected and earmarked for local airplane noise abatement programs, including new flight route designs, noise monitoring documentation technologies and maintenance of local airport noise offices and hot lines for recording citizen complaints.
8. Federal mandates (and financial and technical assistance, if necessary) directed to aircraft manufacturers to facilitate high quality research and development of quieter, less polluting engines.

1 The effectiveness of this proposed initiative was demonstrated in October, 1999. BC CANN’s “Letters to the Editor” published in th Mountain-Ear and the Daily Camera, announced the Data Collection Plan. The resulting total number of noise complaints from Boulder County Citizens skyrocketed from 367 in September to 1,213 in October. (see Appendix 10.8 for full data).