Quote of the Week: "They wouldn't all come to Stewart, not even in the best of circumstances" quote from Port Authority of NY/NJ Executive Director Anthony Shorris on his poor expectations of New York's Stewart Airport being used as passenger airport
Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #413.........................................................................January 21, 2007 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm The PASSUR airport flight tracking system at many major U.S. airports http://www.passur.com/sites.htm (you must have Java installed to view it). If you want to get the newsletter sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net
Giant Air Cargo "Reliever" Airport For Upstate New York?
As
Bill
Sees It: (Editorial)
N.Y. City Cared About
Airport Noise Impacts...Fifty Years Ago : I found this 8/23/1958 newsreel showing the
first passenger jet to land at JFK (formerly called Idlewild) Airport. It was
interesting to see that once the N.Y. City government seems to have cared about noise impacts of jet
aircraft noise on the public. How things have changed since then and how
many millions of New Yorkers wish they could go back to the days before
the "progress" of airport expansion ruined their sleep and quality of
life. N.Y. City
Looks To
"Relieve" 
Itself On Upstate Communities: Residents of
New York's quiet Hudson Valley can say goodbye to their treasured peace as their
politicians have sold them out to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
This bi-state agency is looking to convert upstate Stewart airport, which is 70
miles from Manhattan, as a 4th major "reliever" airport to serve the
New York City metropolitan area. 
Of course, the
politicians are portraying the purchase of the upstate airport by the Port
Authority as an "improvement" of passenger service to region and the greatest thing since sliced bread.
They actually think that upstaters are going to believe people are going to travel
70 miles just to fly in and out of Stewart Airport. That is why I believe the
real plan is to build a giant, air cargo operation...heavily
used at night!!! The Port Authority and the
aviation pollution friendly (like Sen. Chuck Schumer) politicians may have a problem as this area
is full of active environmentalists who just might not like the idea of 
having
their beautiful natural area turned into a dumping ground for N.Y. City
airports. They are not going to be quick to buy the con job and give up their
peace and quiet so N.Y. City can relieve itself on them. British
"Plane
Stupid" Group Fight Aviation Expansion!!! I like this
group's logo and mission statement. While British environmental groups are
totally behind efforts to stop the major expansions planned on them, American environmentalist
groups don't seem to want to offend the aviation industry. In New York City the
Port Authority, which runs the airports, has contracts with major environmental
groups from everything from bird control to managing wetlands adjacent to the
airports. These payoffs insure that these groups keep there members in line
whenever the Port Authority has a new environmental assault on public. I'm sure
the British government is looking into the same kind of method to buy protection
from their environmental groups.
N.Y.
City And New Jersey Wants To Dump Their Plane Noise On Upstate Communities!!!
National Express Group PLC said in a news release from London today it “is
pleased to note the announcement by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey Board Commissioners that they have approved the purchase of the operating
lease at Stewart International Airport, New York State for $78.5 million.” 
The
release said negotiations with the authority began shortly before Christmas and
are expected to be completed soon. "Residents who live north of New York
City, in fast growing Rockland, Orange,
and northern New Jersey, even out to Connecticut and northern parts of
Westchester – it's about 11 million of our passengers today who live in that
catch 'em area," said Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Shorris.
"They wouldn't all come to Stewart, not even in the best of circumstances,
but does that means there is a capacity and an opportunity for dramatic growth
over the 300,000 passengers that are there now, potentially into the millions of
passengers? Absolutely." http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/BUSINESS/70127019/1003
New
York: 
NYC
Had the Worst Year Of Airport Delays: In less than shocking news, New
York City had the worst
airport delays in the whole country. Not only are Kennedy, LaGuardia and
Newark airports very crowded, bad weather was also a factor making
2006 a record year for airport delays. At LaGuardia, planes were delayed at
least 15 minutes 31.6% of the time (between January and November 2006); JFK
flights were delayed 27.7% of the time; and Newark had 33.5% delays - making it
the most delayed airport in the country. Of all the airports looking forward to
the Port
Authority's Stewart Airport lease, it's probably Newark who wants it the
most. http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2007/01/27/nyc_had_the_wor.php
Stewart Airport "Environmental"
Issues To Be Addressed In Buyout!!! New York – Stewart Airport has a number of environmental issues to be
addressed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey acknowledged when it
voted to buy the lease for the Newburgh airport this week. The airport was a
former military air base and has several different types of contamination that
the state Department of Transportation continues to remediate, the Port said.
That contamination includes sub-surface fuel, military waste, hazardous waste,
volatile compounds such as explosives, and other matter, the resolution to buy
the lease states. Port spokesman Mark LaVorgna said those will be addressed.
“We recognize the importance of all of these issues,” he said. “Obviously
we are getting in on the ground floor now and we certainly tend to take all
those seriously and doing the proper diligence on all those issues.” http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/SWF_PA_env-27Jan07.html Editor's
Note: Of course the "environmental" issues of increased noise and air
pollution on the Hudson Valley are not even being discussed!!!
England:
Plane Stupid Organization Fighting For Silent Nights (from their web site)
Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change and a major
threat to the earth and everything on it. But rather than reining the
industry in and trying to reduce demand for flying, the government is promoting
it through tax breaks and through its plans for massive expansion: the
equivalent of a new Heathrow every five years. Plane Stupid is a coalition of
airport residents and environmentalists who use direct action to stop the
destruction of the environment and communities caused by airport expansion and
aviation. Plane Stupid demands a fundamental rethink
of the government's 2003 Aviation White Paper which predicts that air travel
will treble by 2030: an increase in annual plane journeys from 180 million to
501 million. We want to see airport expansion plans scrapped, a
tax on aviation fuel and an end to short haul flights.
http://www.planestupid.com/index.php?location=aboutus
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Important Aviation News Stories This Week
Stewart Airport has not been successful in providing affordable passenger service to residents of the mid-Hudson, so now efforts are being made to interest the Port Authority in developing it as the metropolitan area's fourth regional airport to relieve congestion at Kennedy, La Guardia, and Liberty-Newark.
William DeCota, Port Authority aviation director, predicts that Stewart has the potential to handle as many as 10 million passengers a year, 25 times the amount it had last year.
Developing Stewart as a reliever airport for metropolitan traffic, however, is not in keeping with the 1993 Stewart Airport Master Plan designation as a regional airport serving the travel needs of residents within an hour radius.
Most residents of the mid-Hudson do not want their skies full of noisy, circling jetliners and highways jammed with people who really want to land in New York City and are in a hurry to get there.
In addition, because of the airport's positioning near a nexus of interstates, it has long been seen as a cargo hub that could relieve cargo problems at the metropolitan airports. Cargo traffic means larger, noisier planes, more frequent flights at disturbing times such as late night or early morning. It also means sprawl, truck traffic, more emissions from ground vehicles and maintenance and fueling facilities.
Airports are not regulated in the same way as other significant air pollution sources. State and local regulations are powerless and, as a result, other local industries have to assume more of the burden in meeting mandated emission reduction deadlines (NRDC, 1996, Flying Off Course). This means that noise and air pollution from outside our region will be shipped in with little benefit to local citizens or the local economy.
Airports are giant generators of pollution and may be a necessary evil, like landfills.
Decisions about Stewart's growth should be based on a consideration of proportional good and harm to the local public and not on solving the congestion problems of the metropolitan airports or on enhancing the bottom line of a relatively small group of businesses that stand to profit.
Mid-Hudson residents should carefully consider the consequences before giving the Port Authority full reign over Stewart Airport.
Patricia Peters and Maureen Radl both live in Cragsmoor and are part of Ulsterites Fight Overflight Noise.