The City of Malibu Files Petition Asking FAA to Take Steps to Reduce Aircraft Noise and Emissions Over the Community
On February 8, 2022, the City of Malibu filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), asking it to adopt rules that would reduce the aircraft noise and emissions that Malibu residents have been experiencing since the FAA’s implemented its “NextGen” flight procedures at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
“In Malibu, we cherish the natural beauty and peace and quiet of our surroundings, and the habitat and wildlife, all of which are heavily impacted by aircraft noise and emissions,” said Mayor Paul Grisanti. “I urge the FAA to take seriously the harm that our community and our environment, and communities across the country are experiencing, and to come up with alternatives.”
In addition, Malibu asked the FAA to examine the environmental impacts that the NextGen flight procedures are having on Southern California in general, and Malibu in particular. New information shows that the FAA’s method of assessing aircraft noise is obsolete and is in dire need of updating.
Since aircraft noise and emissions are a matter of public health and safety, Malibu also asked that the FAA include a Health Impact Assessment that studies the impact that aircraft noise and emissions have on human health in areas beneath flight paths.
Malibu’s petition requested that the FAA take specific steps to lower the thresholds of significance, used by the FAA to determine the impact of aircraft noise, to reflect the actual impact on communities, in line with recent research showing that aircraft noise and emissions are detrimental to the health of people living under flight paths. The City also requested that specific flight rules be implemented to mitigate the impacts of noise and emissions on Malibu’s residents.
As pointed out in Malibu’s petition, aircraft noise and emissions are a national public health and safety problem that the FAA needs to address urgently.
The City of Malibu’s Petition for Rulemaking is available online. The rulemaking docket can be accessed online.