Conn. AG challenges FAA's new regional flight plan

The Connecticut attorney general and communities in four Northeastern states have asked a federal court to halt a new air traffic plan for the region, citing noise, pollution and other problems.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Friday he had filed a brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the plan, which is aimed at reducing airport delays.

Blumenthal contends that the Federal Aviation Administration violated federal law by failing to fully consider the plan's effects on noise levels, air quality, the environment and wildlife. He is asking the court to force the FAA to redo the plan.

The FAA adopted the plan last year, after nearly a decade of study, in an effort to reduce delays and congestion in the heavily traveled Northeast. It affects flights at airports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Changes are already under way and the FAA expects the plan to be fully implemented by 2011. It estimates the new flight patterns will reduce delays by up to 20 percent.

Among those taking part in the challenge are the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, 10 cities and towns in southwestern Connecticut and several local governments and organizations in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

"These flight paths will bombard residents, sensitive wildlife areas and state parks with noise and pollution, damaging air quality and quality of life," Blumenthal said in a statement. "We will fight to rescind these defective flight paths and force the FAA to rewrite the plan."

The legal brief, filed late last month, is part of a lawsuit Connecticut filed against the FAA in November 2007. It also alleges the FAA failed to fully consider alternate routes over water and in military air lanes.

An FAA spokeswoman said Friday that the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The agency says the new flight patterns pose no significant threats to the environment, although noise would increase in some communities.

But Blumenthal questioned the FAA's assessments, saying the plan "reflects unfounded assumptions, selective omissions and outright denial of facts."

The Connecticut towns involved in the new legal brief include New Canaan, Greenwich, Redding and Westport. Other plaintiffs include Rockland County, N.Y.; Delaware County, Pa., and Bergen County, N.J.

At least a dozen communities in several states are suing the FAA over the new flight pattern plan, and Congress has ordered the Government Accountability Office to examine the agency's method for choosing the new routes.