Supervisor Scott Russell will today announce the filing of a formal complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration about the FAA’s extension of the north shore helicopter route for another four years.
Russell said in a press release he will host a press conference today at 11 a.m. to discuss the complaint.
“Southold Town contends that this action is in violation of federal law and executive order,” according to the press release announcing the press conference, which will take place at Southold Town Hall.
Southold officials said they would explore legal action against the FAA in July shortly after the agency published its decision to summarily extend through 2020 the north shore helicopter route, which has been funneling virtually all NYC-Hamptons helicopter traffic over the North Fork since 2012. The rule was due to sunset Aug. 6.
The FAA published a final rule in the July 25 Federal Register extending the route for four years, surprising residents, local elected official and even the East End congressman, Rep. Lee Zeldin.
The FAA did not provide the 30-day public comment period prior to the rule adoption, as required by the Federal Administrative Procedure Act. The agency justified dispensing with the comment period by saying it did not want to confuse helicopter pilots mid-season.
In a written statement, Southold Town voiced its strong objection to the FAA’s action, taken without the 30-day comment period. The summary action “deprived Southold of its due process right to be heard before the FAA decided to extend the time duration of the route,” a statement by the town said. It also violated a presidential executive order requiring the agency to consult with town officials before extending the route, according to the town. And it also “deprived the citizens of Southold their individual right to petition the government,” as guaranteed by the First Amendment, the statement said.
“It appears at this point the only public input they’ve received was from the Eastern Region Helicopter Council and a U.S. senator who’s trying to appease the large population up west,” Russell said during a town board work session in July, after the board met in executive session with an attorney who is counsel to the town helicopter committee.
The summary extension prompted an angry Rep. Lee Zeldin to call for the resignation of the FAA administrator Michael Huerta.
The FAA adopted the original north shore route in 2012 and extended it for two years in 2014.
The north shore route was intended to keep helicopters over the Long Island Sound from Manhattan eastward, to quiet the skies of the north shore. It was adopted in response to complaints from north shore residence up and down the northern coast of Long Island. But the rule allows helicopter pilots to “transition” over the North Fork as they make their way to landing points — mostly the municipal airport in East Hampton.
The north shore route actually made the helicopter noise levels worse for North Fork residents by requiring pilots to stay off the coast until they got out east, with the effect of funneling all NYC-Hamptons helicopter traffic over the North Fork, the supervisor said.
Before the FAA’s action, Russell said he preferred to see the agency just let the rule expire. “The pilots tell us ‘get rid of the North Shore route and we’ll disburse it around the island’ and then the noise issues on the North Fork will be reduced substantially,” Russell told SoutholdLOCAL in June.
But after the extension, Russell said he was “not surprised” by it. “I know that Rep Zeldin has been fighting against the renewal,” he said, ”but it’s difficult to overcome the support for extending it by the west end representatives and a U.S Senator who came up with the hair-brained scheme to begin with,” he said, referring to Sen. Chuck Schumer, who had advocated for the rule initially. Schumer said through a spokesperson this summer he is in favor of a north shore route that would require pilots to fly east over water beyond Plum Island.
Besides the route, which requires helicopters to stay off-shore except when transitioning to a landing point, the rule sets a minimum altitude requirement as well.
But the rule, which in 2012 made what had been a voluntary over-water North Shore route — in place since 2008 — “permits pilots to deviate from the route and altitude requirements when necessary for safety, weather conditions, or transitioning to or from a destination or point of landing.”
The FAA said in a statement it has been “engaged in a variety of helicopter research initiatives that could inform the agency’s future actions on this rule. Topics addressed by these research efforts, described include modeling of helicopter performance and noise, helicopter noise-abatement procedures, and community response to helicopter noise.”
The FAA describes the research in detail in the publication. See Federal Register.
“The FAA expects that four years will be sufficient time to consider results of the described research efforts in determining appropriate future actions on the rule,” the agency said in the publication. “Extending the requirement to use the North Shore Helicopter Route during this period will continue to foster maximum use of the North Shore Helicopter Route and avoid disruption of the current operating environment. Therefore, the FAA finds that a four-year extension of the current rule is warranted.”
