Congresswoman Grace Meng reintroduced legislation this week that would take the job of combating aircraft noise away from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and put the responsibility instead on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Quiet Communities Act of 2017 would reopen EPA’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control, which was defunded by the Ronald Reagan administration in 1981.
The bill would require the EPA Administrator to conduct a study of airport noise and examine FAA’s selection of noise measurement methodologies, health impacts, and abatement program effectiveness.
“Queens and many other parts of the country continue to suffer from the effects of excessive airplane noise and the negative impact it has on people’s quality of life,” Meng said. “Shifting the job of noise mitigation from the FAA to the EPA would help us better address the problem, and the idea makes perfect sense.”
“Aircraft noise is an environmental issue that can impact the health of Americans, and the EPA has overseen these types of noise issues in the past,” she added. “The FAA’s lack of success in combating airplane noise illustrates the need for a different solution. I say we give the job back to the EPA.”
Meng first introduced the bill in 2015, garnering 25 co-sponsors.