Fair Skies Coalition Blasts FAA on Aircraft Noise


In the spring of 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration’s implementation of a new northern flight route called LAZIR generated a ripple effect in noise complaints among D.C. residents. The Georgetown neighborhood, Georgetown University and nearby communities, including Foggy Bottom, Foxhall, Hillandale, Burleith and Palisades, have all been impacted by a decrease in quality of life and property values, the coalition contends.

The DC Fair Skies Coalition, a partnership of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, other organizations representing Potomac River communities and Georgetown University, filed a petition for review of the new flight path in August of 2015. The petition, sent to the D.C. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, challenged the route as unlawful. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council member Jack Evans and all at-large Council members signed it and pledged their support.

After hitting a wall with the petition, the group filed an opening brief with the Court of Appeals, hoping that the FAA will revert to the former flight path for northern departures until an intensive environmental review is conducted. The brief states that the FAA failed to make the required review, claiming that LAZIR had been in use since 2008.

The court must now arrange an oral argument to take place in the fall. The coalition’s aircraft noise fund is gathering donations — at cagtown.org/dcfairskies — to meet the goal of an additional $60,000 needed to pursue the case against the FAA.

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