November 2017 MCQSC Update: First Year in Review and Goals for Year Two
Just over a year ago, a handful of people living in Montgomery County neighborhoods near the Potomac River came together out of frustration, anger, and concern that the number of airplanes flying overhead -- bombarding residents with oft-times incessant jet engine noise -- had become unbearable. The group met and realized they needed to move quickly if they stood any chance of reining in the uncontrolled highway in the sky that had materialized without notice, discussion, or any regard for the thousands of people living underneath it.
They held a meeting -- drawing folks from the Brookmont, Springfield, Tulip Hill, Bannockburn, Cabin John, Carderock, Avenel and Potomac neighborhoods -- and formed the Montgomery County Quiet Skies Coalition. Its mission is to “resolve the untenable levels of aircraft noise, air pollution, and flight safety risks imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration's flight paths and procedures at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA).”
The coalition has made incredible progress since its inception. Twenty-nine neighborhoods with more than 20,000 residents are now affiliated with the coalition. Fifteen civic associations are charter members. The coalition has engaged politicians at all levels of government. It has successfully persuaded Montgomery County and the State of Maryland to consider legal action and has proposed amendments to legislation at the federal level. Five coalition members represent Montgomery County on the airport authority’s Community Noise Working Group.
Without a sustained effort over the coming year, Montgomery County residents are likely to face increasingly harmful levels of airplane noise and pollution for years to come. Please join our ranks of dedicated volunteers so that we can achieve lasting solutions to this harmful situation. This document summarizes the coalition’s accomplishments in its first year and outlines its goals for a critically important second year.
Highlights from Year One
Founded the Montgomery County Quiet Skies Coalition (MCQSC)
● Created a mission statement and official bylaws signed by 15 community associations
● Established an Executive Committee and community liaisons
● Held monthly strategy meetings drawing participants from 29 neighborhoods
Research and Technical Accomplishments
● Researched the political, economic, historic, and technical roots of the airplane noise problem
● Created written and visual materials to share this information with others such as neighbors, elected officials, and the media
● Formed a technical noise committee and obtained a large noise data set for analysis over the coming months
Developed a Communications Strategy
● Created a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account to reach local and national audience
● Developed and maintained two listservs (for discussions and updates) with hundreds of members
● Conducted interviews with television outlets, radio stations, and newspapers
● Developed a powerpoint presentation and presented it in a variety of local forums, including civic association meetings and meetings with elected leaders
Developed a Multi-Pronged Strategy
The complexity of the issues of airplane noise and pollution led the coalition to conclude that the
problem must be tackled on multiple fronts: local, regional, national, political, technical & legal.
Local Accomplishments
● Developed a close working partnership with the Bethesda Regional Services Director Ken Hartman and other county officials
● Added four new Montgomery County representatives (two voting members/two alternates) to the DCA Community Noise Working Group (NWG)
● Helped foster working relationships with members of the NWG from DC and Virginia
● Encouraged Montgomery County to hire a technical consultant to help county officials and Montgomery County NWG representatives understand aviation issues and more effectively work with the FAA and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA)
● Worked to encourage greater engagement from Maryland’s three governor-appointed MWAA Board Members
Regional and National Accomplishments
● Developed a strong working relationship with members of the BWI Roundtable (the community noise working group for Baltimore Washington International Airport)
● Built relationships and shared information with airplane noise groups around the country including Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis/St Paul, and New York City.
Political Accomplishments
● Created a detailed briefing packet on historic, political, technical and economic issues related to airplane noise and pollution to educate our political representatives
● Developed strong working relationships with and gained substantive support from elected officials and their staff at the county, state, and congressional levels, including:
○ Montgomery County Council President, Roger Berliner
○ Montgomery County Executive, Ike Leggett
○ Maryland State Delegate, Marc Korman
○ Congressman Jamie Raskin
○ Senator Chris Van Hollen
○ Senator Ben Cardin
○ Governor Larry Hogan
● Met with staff of the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus and Senate staff working on aviation issues to discuss strategy and obtain support, including staff for:
○ Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) chairman of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation
○ Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), ranking member on Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
○ Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY), co-chair of Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus
○ Congresswoman Meng (D-NY), former co-chair of the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus
● Drafted proposed amendments to the pending FAA Reauthorization Bill and encouraged elected representatives to introduce or support the amendments
Legal Accomplishments
● Conducted an extensive review and analysis of documents and applicable laws pertaining to the 2015 move of flight paths from Virginia to Maryland
● Persuaded Montgomery County officials to hire Dentons law firm to ascertain the potential merits of a county-sponsored lawsuit based on the FAA’s failure to conduct proper environmental review before moving flight paths over the county
● Engaged in discussions with state officials regarding possible legal action at the state level. This advocacy along with advocacy from similarly-impacted communities near BWI Airport, led Governor Larry Hogan Sept. 12 to direct the state’s attorney general to take legal action against the FAA on behalf of Marylanders and led Attorney General Brian Frosh on Oct. 31 to hire outside legal counsel.
MCQSC Goals for Year Two
Despite the significant progress to date, the coalition has even more work to do as it enters its second year. We must continue to build upon our accomplishments and strengthen our coalition in new areas. We need to continue our aggressive efforts to achieve actual changes in the FAA flight paths this year and beyond.
Build Our Base of Support
To be successful, the coalition must continue to grow its base and to attract volunteers willing to spend time helping the coalition achieve its goals. We need volunteers to focus on growing the coalition membership and developing greater community outreach. Goals for year two include:
● Getting out the message via presentations to communities and associations, community newsletters, word-of-mouth, flyers, social media, listservs, etc.
● Organizing events to raise awareness
● Developing relationships with schools, businesses and other groups that may be adversely impacted by increased air traffic
DCA Community Noise Working Group
Like other community groups throughout the country that have been established as a response to NextGen noise impacts, the DCA Community Noise Working Group is the primary (if not only) venue for communicating community concerns to the FAA and for working with members from DC, Virginia and the airlines to find solutions to the airplane noise and frequency problem. To that end, we need volunteers to provide support to Montgomery County NWG representatives in the following areas:
● Researching aircraft noise, pollution, health impacts, etc. that may aid county
representatives in FAA negotiations
● Providing up-to-date information on other community working groups/roundtables in their
dealings with the FAA
● Attending NWG meetings to let MWAA and the FAA know this matters to us, and encourage political representatives to attend meetings as well
● Keeping NWG representatives apprised on the political and legal environment with respect to relevant aviation issues.
Communications
The coalition is looking to develop a more sophisticated communications strategy as well as improve communications on its existing platforms. While we have a functional website, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and listservs, we need to build out these tools and maintain current, easy-to-understand content. We need volunteers to assist with the following communications needs by:
● Identifying the various audiences the coalition needs to reach and developing appropriate communications strategies for each sector;
● Developing relationships with news outlets;
● Streamlining the coalition website to make it more user-friendly, and ensuring that our targeted audiences can easily access the information that is most relevant to them;
● Adding links, video and other features to the website to improve its functionality;
● Making regular posts on Twitter and Facebook to stay current and to encourage action items such as filing noise complaints or sending letters;
● Sending coalition updates to news outlets;
● Coordinating updates to coalition members and community liaisons.
Political and Legal
The coalition has successfully built relationships with local, state, and federal officials who can effect change at the FAA. It is imperative that coalition members keep up the pressure and make sure this issue remains a priority among our political leaders, including candidates running for office. Volunteers will maintain political pressure by:
● Continuing to collaborate with elected officials and keeping them informed and engaged;
● Developing new relationships with officials at all levels of government;
● Encouraging friends and neighbors to continue to write letters, and to let candidates for office know that this issue matters to voters;
● Reminding neighbors, communities, friends, associations, businesses, etc. to file complaints - the number of people filing complaints matters!
● Continuing to encourage and assist the governor and the state’s attorney general in their efforts to pursue legal action.
Research and Technical
Good data and a greater understanding of the complex aviation issues involved with noise concerns aids coalition efforts on a number of fronts. We need volunteers who can gather and analyze technical data as well as volunteers who can research what is happening with this issue around the country.