FAA Requests Feedback on Its Aviation Noise Policy
On April 28th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a notice and request for comments on the agency's ongoing 'Noise Policy Review' (NPR). Through the NPR, FAA is evaluating its aviation noise policy, including the current use of DNL as the primary noise metric for assessing cumulative aircraft noise exposure and whether to continue to use the DNL 65 dB level as (a) the metric and threshold for determining significant noise impacts as part of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and (b) the definition of the limit of residential land use compatibility.
FAA's review was largely triggered by 2021 survey results showing that substantially more individuals are highly annoyed by aircraft noise levels since the last survey was conducted over 30 years ago. As part of the NPR, FAA is requesting feedback from industry stakeholders and the public. The agency included over 27 questions in the notice, with a special emphasis on the noise metrics and thresholds that are used to determine significant noise exposure. FAA will use its ongoing review of recent research and public comments to determine whether and how to update its noise policy.
FAA is expected to publish the notice and request in the Federal Register on Monday morning and has provided a 90-day window for airports and the public to provide feedback. The deadline to respond will be Monday, July 31. Airports are highly encouraged to carefully review the request and notify AAAE of concerns or any other issues that we should consider including in our comments to FAA. We will also be hosting a separate webinar discussion to solicit input as we develop a response ahead of the deadline.
Background. In January 2021, FAA released long-awaited results from the 'Neighborhood Environmental Survey' (NES), which demonstrated a 'substantially higher percentage of people highly annoyed by the entire range of aircraft noise levels' in comparison to the last study completed in 1992. At the time, FAA emphasized that the results did not represent any shift in agency policy on how it evaluates and/or manages aircraft noise and requested comments on the NES results, including what, if any, additional research the agency should conduct before considering any updates to policy.
In April 2021, AAAE responded to the request, sharing additional areas of research that FAA should consider pursuing. We also emphasized that if FAA does pursue policy changes, there will be major implications for airports that need to be carefully considered and addressed in partnership with the industry.
Summary of FAA's NPR Notice and Request. In today's notice, FAA acknowledged that aircraft noise and its impact on people continues to be a major source of concern. In response to the NES results, FAA received overwhelming feedback from the public that the agency should not conduct any additional research but should instead move forward with revising its policies. FAA seems intent now on moving forward with some changes.
As part of its review, FAA emphasized that the agency is primarily focused on two areas of its aviation noise policy:
• Airport Noise Compatibility Planning: Under 14 CFR Part 150, FAA has promulgated regulations that identify land uses that are 'normally compatible' with various noise exposure levels; however, these classifications were based on guidelines and research during the 1970s. FAA's review is considering how the agency's updated understanding of the effects of aircraft noise on individuals, communities, and noise-sensitive areas should be used to potentially revise FAA definitions of land uses that are 'normally compatible' with airport operations.
• Reviewing Noise Impacts Through NEPA Reviews: Under NEPA, FAA has established a quantitative limit, expressed in terms of DNL, to describe the significance of changes in aviation noise exposure (the NEPA significance threshold) based on community annoyance. As part of its NPR, FAA is closely examining (1) the agency's decision to establish a NEPA significance threshold more broadly; (2) the type of impact or community annoyance that informed selection of the current NEPA significance threshold; and (3) the noise metric (DNL) that quantitatively describes the impact of noise exposure under NEPA.
FAA indicated that potential changes could include, for example, replacing DNL as the sole decisionmaking noise metric; incorporating new decisionmaking noise metrics into the system; determining whether a single metric should be used or a combination of metrics; and revising the policy on the use of supplemental metrics.
FAA's NPR Virtual Public Meetings. FAA will be holding a series of virtual public meetings for the purpose of providing background information on the ongoing NPR and responding to technical matters. Here is the schedule of meetings over the next month:
• Tuesday, May 16, at 1-3 p.m. ET
• Thursday, May 18, at 6-8 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, May 23, at 9-11 p.m. ET
• Thursday, May 25, at 3-5 p.m. ET
You can learn more about how to participate in one or more of these webinars here.
What's Next? FAA is expected to publish the notice and request for comments on Monday morning, triggering a 90-day period for airports and the public to respond. The deadline will be Monday, July 31. Although FAA did not outline a timeframe for responding to comments, the agency did indicate that it would publish a subsequent notice explaining why it decided to revise or not revise its noise policy, which will include specific details on what elements of the policy will be modified.
It is important to note that any future changes to FAA's noise policy would require a meaningful amount of time to implement. For example, updates to Part 150 would require a rulemaking action, which would take at least a few years, and any changes to NEPA-related guidance would require coordination with the Council on Environmental Quality and an update to internal FAA orders.
Resources on FAA's Noise Policy Review:
• FAA's April 28 Press Release on Noise Policy Review
• FAA's April 28 Notice and Request for Comments on Noise Policy Review
• FAA's Noise Policy Review Website
• AAAE's April 14, 2021 Comments in Response to FAA's Neighborhood Environmental Survey Results
• 2021 Results from FAA's Neighborhood Environmental Survey
