The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that it will extend the public comment period, from June 1 to July 1, for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on overhauling the region’s commercial airspace.  Congressman Jerrold Nadler and concerned elected officials and community groups throughout the area had requested that the deadline be extended.

“It’s quite helpful that the FAA has agreed to extend the public comment deadline,” Congressman Nadler said.  “The airspace redesign is a major project with impacts on millions of residents in the Northeast, and it’s only fair that all the interested parties have their chance to be heard.”

The DEIS is a detailed and complicated survey of options for streamlining the northeast’s tangled network of flight paths, which were developed in the 1960s and are now plagued by delays.  The airspace redesign will affect four major regional airports: Newark International, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia International.

Whichever redesign option is ultimately implemented, the FAA should prioritize the reduction of disruptive noise and environmental hazards posed to communities on the ground.  The month-long extension will allow elected officials, community groups and others more time to absorb the FAA’s considerations and to respond in detail to the DEIS.  Nadler will submit to the FAA a letter detailing his concerns.