East Haven Mayor Calls for Full Environmental Impact Statement on Tweed Airport Expansion Plans

Oct. 19—NEW HAVEN — East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to do a full-blown environmental impact statement on the proposed expansion of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport rather than the more limited environmental assessment already underway.

East Haven "has significant concerns regarding the planned expansion and relocation of operations" at Tweed "as described in the Tweed-New Haven Airport Master Plan Update Final Report dated October 2021," Carfora wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to Colleen D'Alessandro, the FAA's regional administrator for the New England Region.

In doing so, Carfora added his official voice as the chief elected official of one of the two municipalities in which Tweed is located to a chorus of previous calls from neighbors in East Haven and New Haven who oppose airport expansion, the 10,000 Hawks grassroots community and environmental group, Connecticut Fund for the Environment and others.

"Our concerns center on the significant and unavoidable negative impacts the project will have on public health and the environment in contravention of local, state and federal policy and legal requirements," Carfora wrote.

"The FAA's own guidance documents contemplate such an action," Carfora said, quoting a policy document that states that the FAA "must prepare an EIS when one or more environmental impacts of a proposed action would be significant and mitigation measures would not reduce the impact(s) below significant levels."

Another FAA policy document states that "moving to prepare an EIS is appropriate even if preparation of an EA has already commenced," Carfora said. He also quoted that policy.

Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon responded that Tweed is following FAA procedure and guidance by performing the environmental assessment — essentially, going through the process because that's what the FAA told Tweed to do.

Were the FAA to require an EIS, Tweed, its management company, Avports, and its consultants would do an EIS, Scanlon said.

But he said he did not believe a request from Carfora was any different or more weighty than a request from any other member of the public.

FAA spokeswoman Eva Lee Ngai said that "environmental impact determines whether a more extensive ... EIS is required. The FAA provides oversight of the environmental review of the proposed project consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act ... and other special purpose laws. The airport has contracted consultants to prepare the environmental review and the FAA will independently evaluate the data to ensure it is consistent with NEPA regulations and FAA Order 1050.1F."

East Haven resident Lorena Venegas, a co-founder of 10,000 Villages and one of the people who have been calling for an EIS, said, " East Haven residents remain uninformed and confused since Mayor Carfora was '100 percent on board with this project' on May 6, 2021, and then changed his opinion in (the) March 2022 State of the Town Address.

"Despite petitions and residents attending Town Council, Board of Finance and Economic Development Commission" meetings "to present evidence and request an EIS, there have been no public forums in the town of East Haven," Venegas said. "There has been no explanation by FAA community liaison staffers on the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) factors that decide whether the agency will do a no-impact versus requiring an EIS.

"Instead, the residents have the primary resources about the environmental impacts and have had meetings with congressional staffers and CT DEEP," she said in an email. "There are four neighborhoods groups working at local, state and federal level to require an EIS.

"The main issues that are resonating with decision-makers are wetlands, noise and air pollution, construction (especially at night) as a disturbance of quiet enjoyment of people's homes," Venegas said. "Tweed airport attorneys have failed to comply with basic FOIA requests related to obtaining signed copies of the lease, pesticide vendor information and gifts and bequests to Tweed Airport Authority Board members under by-laws."

An EIS "will allow a restart to the process and address necessary questions of cumulative impacts," Venegas said.

Tweed is owned by the city of New Haven but located in both New Haven and East Haven. It is managed by Avports, a private company owned by a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. The $100 million expansion plan, to be funded by Avports as part of a recently-approved 43-year sublease, would build a new terminal with up to six gates on the East Haven side and move the airport's main entrance off Proto Drive in East Haven.

The current terminal and entrance are on the New Haven side, off Burr Street.

Carfora told the FAA that while his letter "will primarily discuss impacts and concerns that the town and its residents have regarding the proposed expansion," it is worth noting "that the proposed expansion will have a negative effect on the physical environment and the health and well-being of those living and working in ... New Haven and the surrounding region, as well."

But "the vast majority of the project consists of a planned expansion and relocation of facilities" to East Haven, he wrote. "This includes an extended runway and ancillary access to the runway; a new terminal facility with up to six gates; new parking facilities with up to 1,800 parking spaces, and a new primary access road."

In addition, "traffic will be routed through and on town roads in residential and town-center areas that are already inadequate for current local purposes and are unable to be expanded due to physical constraints," Carfora wrote.

"The impacts of the project on families, businesses and other members of the community will be immense and negative," he wrote. "It is unlikely that any noticeable economic benefit (the main driver for the project) will be experienced by those in the town, which is a 'distressed municipality' under the laws of the State of Connecticut."

Instead, "town residents will ... experience increased air, noise and light pollution, unsafe and at times unpassable roads, and many other negative impacts associated with potentially up to 100 additional daily passenger flights and an unknown number of new cargo flights to and from Tweed enabled by the Project," Carfora wrote.

Carfora cited the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which he said "requires a federal agency to prepare an EIS when 'major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment' are proposed."

"A federal agency such as the FAA must prepare an EIS if there is a possibility that a project may have a significant environmental impact," Carfora wrote. "Direct, indirect and cumulative impacts must be considered when determining significance."

An environmental assessment "is a preliminary document that can be the basis for a Finding of No Significant Impact ('FONSI') or a finding that an EIS, which fully considers the project pursuant to federal standards, must be conducted," Carfora wrote.

"Public input is key to a successful environmental review under NEPA, and to date, the information provided to the public, and the opportunity for meaningful comment, have been woefully inadequate," Carfora wrote. "... The Authority has provided no meaningful opportunity for the community to obtain updated information or feedback."

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