What You Can Do about Airport Pollution
Keep up the pressure to preserve your quality of life and health.


Airports cause as much pollution as smokestack industries but are subject to fewer regulations. As a result, the problems they cause can be more severe. If you live near an airport, you experience these problems firsthand. Here are some steps you can take to alleviate them.
To fight air pollution from your local airport:

* Call or write the airlines that serve your airport and tell them you are concerned about air quality. Urge them to follow Delta's example in practicing reduced engine idling to the fullest extent possible both before takeoff and after landing. This simple procedure can reduce ground level air pollutants by as much as 40 percent.

To fight noise pollution from your local airport:

* Contact the airport's noise abatement office (or whatever office handles this function) to find out what the airport's procedures are for mitigating noise, such as curfews and directing planes away from residential areas at night. Ask for a verbal explanation as well as a full written description. When you are disturbed by airport noise, call to let the airport know. Ask the airport to track offending flights and see if they are in compliance with their own procedures. If you suspect that they are not in compliance, tell them so.
* If noise is a persistent problem -- particularly at night -- ask the airport to reevaluate its procedures.

To fight water pollution from your local airport:

* Contact the local regulatory authority in charge of protecting surface water if you are concerned about a waterway near an airport. This will either be a department of Pollution control Board. Ask for a copy of the airport's stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPP). This plan should detail the steps the airport plans to take to protect local waterways.

To avoid airport pollution problems when you move to a new home:

* Research the area where you're considering moving to see if it is close to an airport.
* Contact the airport and ask for copies of flight paths, noise exposure maps, and the airport's Master Plan which would include airport expansion plans.
* Consider a home in a different location if it looks like you might have a problem -- either now or in the future when the airport expands.

Regards,
Chiil