Event: Monday, Nov 9, 2015, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM A notice has appeared in The Other Paper in South Burlington from the Burlington International Airport that there will be a "Public Workshop re: Noise Mitigation and Mapping.
The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the sound around your airport." Monday, November 9th. 6 p.m - 8p.m Chamberlain School, South Burlington Please plan on attending this meeting to find out about the years-overdue noise exposure maps that the FAA, Burlington Airport and the VT Air National Guard have developed, and find out what this will mean to our communities.
If you don't remember the noise impact from the F16s being so loud in the past -- you are correct, it wasn't! But in 2008, the VT ANG replaced its fleet of F16s with other "big-mouth" inlet models, fitted the jets with external fuel tanks, and drastically changed their flying patterns from only 20% afterburner to 95% afterburner. It has resulted in an incredibly louder noise impact on the communities around the airport.
The fact is, such a substantial change of afterburner use should have generated its own USAF Environmental Impact Statement according to federal National Protection Policy Act mandates (similar to the EIS that was produced for the F35 basing, which foretold substantial negative impacts on our communities).
But no such EIS was ever produced. So in essence, the way the F16s are being flown today can be viewed as a violation of NEPA laws because no evaluation of their impact on the affected people and communities was ever made available.
This leads to many questions about transparency, and the irregularities and legalities of the processes that has led us to this point where Burlington was chosen as the first-ever basing of the F35 stealth bomber/fighter jet in densely populated residential areas in 2020.
In addition, an article in this week’s Other Paper reports on what’s next for the airport neighborhoods, and states that the Airport is planning on applying for a noise mitigation program to purchase new windows, doors, insulation and possibly HVAC systems to help “noise-proof” qualifying homes.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?pbid=aacd0b83-2f20-43cc-b6ae-07ca0e39d8dc Since homes in Burlington, Winooski and Williston have also been impacted by substantially increased noise from airport and military traffic, and will experience 3-4 times the impact in the future from the F35s, will our homes be considered as “qualifying” for this program?
Please come to the meeting on 11/9 and voice your concerns about this and other issues, and let’s try to get some answers to these questions.
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