Huerta photo: AP/Cliff Owen; Zeldin photo: Denise Civiletti
Rep. Lee Zeldin is calling for the resignation or removal of FAA administrator Michael Huerta unless the head of the agency immediately reconsiders the decision to extend the North Shore helicopter route through August 2020.
Zeldin is ripping mad about the FAA’s decision to extend the North Shore helicopter route, a decision that took the congressman and local officials by surprise, as first reported by SoutholdLOCAL Saturday.
Zeldin had spoken on the topic of helicopter traffic and noise at the annual meeting of the group Southold Voice on Saturday morning at the Peconic Lane Recreation Center. He publicly lamented Saturday about the lack of responsiveness of the FAA administrator to North Fork residents’ concerns and complaints.
“The FAA is being silent with everyone,” including him, the clearly frustrated congressman told the group. He said the FAA administrator didn’t even respond to his most recent inquiries. “When a member of Congress writes a letter to the administrator of a federal agency, he should get a response,” Zeldin said.
Immediately after the meeting, Zeldin said in an interview that his inquiries about the status of the rule, which was set to expire Aug. 6, had not been answered and he did not know what the FAA intended to do.
What Zeldin and other officials at the morning meeting did not know was that the FAA had just published notice of the four-year extension on the Federal Register website. Bearing a date of July 25, the notice will be in the printed Federal Register publication today.
After being informed by a reporter Saturday evening of the Federal Register publication, Zeldin’s communications director issued a statement to the media Saturday night, in which the congressman blasted the FAA for its actions.
Zeldin, who is member of the House transportation and infrastructure committee and vice chairman of the House subcommittee on aviation, called the FAA’s announcement “an unacceptable example of incompetence and arrogance on the part of faceless, unelected and unaccountable federal bureaucrats.”
The congressman said he had “made it clear” to Huerta in a letter he sent the administrator in October that he believed any extension should be for no longer than one year, “with the extensive strengthening of altitude requirements and enforcement of flight standards, and a true all water route over the Atlantic Ocean as the permanent solution.” Huerta never responded to that letter, Zeldin said in an interview Saturday.
He said the planned adoption — without the required minimum 30-day notice — “violates the Administrative Procedures Act, a federal law that requires transparency and a public comment period on any major regulatory decisions.”
The reason given by the FAA for moving forward with the extension without the notice and comment period, “reaches a new level of tone-deafness,” Zeldin said.
The FAA in its statement of “good cause for immediate adoption without prior notice” simply stated that the rule was set to expire and the adoption without notice/comment was needed to “avoid confusion” among helicopter pilots.
“This is unresponsive bureaucracy at its worst,” Zeldin said.
“After repeated follow-up from myself, my office, the House subcommittee on aviation, other elected officials, and countless concerned citizens on the East End, the FAA has chosen to go radio silent and release this directive in secret as if the American public is the enemy,” Zeldin said.
