In the contentious debate on El Toro, there is one thing both sides agree on: a curfew on night flights would make the airport much more palatable.
“If the Orange County government could prove to the South County that a curfew is possible, it would have done it a long time ago, because that would take out much of the opposition from South County,” said Meg Waters, spokeswoman for the anti-airport coalition of eight cities, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA). “Clearly, the county cannot demonstrate a curfew is possible.”
But county officials and airport supporters are now making a push to obtain a curfew. They say South County is framing the curfew as impossible so as to maintain opposition to the airport.
“I think we can have a night curfew,” said Mike Gatzke, the county’s lead counsel on aviation issues, who crafted the 1988 curfew at John Wayne Airport. “The question is how we do it. There is a process where you propose the restriction to the FAA and if it meets six statutory tests, they would be obligated to do it.”
Another way is for Congress to pass an exemption for El Toro. U.S. Rep. Chris Cox, whose district includes both the pro-El Toro-airport Newport Beach and much of the anti-airport South County, said he’s received a letter asking for his help on a curfew from two pro-airport members of the OC Board of Supervisors, Chuck Smith and Jim Silva. Cox was instrumental in getting legislation passed to maintain the curfew at John Wayne.
Cox, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, said he’s willing to carry legislation to get a curfew at El Toro, too, but that South County must also agree.
“The importance of getting all of our county to agree on this cannot be overstated,” said Cox. “There’s a growing recognition that as much as people in South County oppose the airport, they don’t control the outcome completely.
“I’ve been encouraging the elected officials to think about this from the standpoint of their own self-interests. They should protect themselves against the worst possible airport,” he said.
South County officials have long insisted that it’s next to impossible to get a curfew. They point out that the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t permitted a curfew at an airport in the 10 years since Congress approved a 1990 law restricting the ability of local communities to enact noise regulations.
But the law clearly allows a curfew, although the process to getting one is like solving a Rubic’s cube.
“It’s an extensive process and it requires quite a bit of effort,” said Mitch Barker, spokesman for the FAA Western Pacific Region. “You must prove a curfew is an economic benefit to the whole system to the entire national air space system. That’s the biggest stumbling block.”
While that stumbling block is obviously very difficult, some on the pro-airport side argue that if the FAA really wants El Toro as an airport, they’ll loosen their standards to accommodate the local community.
“I think the FAA has to update their whole philosophy about urban settings and recognize that airports are hard to site,” said Bruce Nestande, president of the pro-airport Citizens for Jobs and the Economy. “The FAA has got to become more sensitive. They just cannot give the airlines all they want in every situation.
Curfews and night-time restrictions are part of that. In my conversations at FAA, there has been a movement in that direction.”
El Toro airport supporters were buoyed by a recent FAA decision that permitted the city of Los Angeles to implement new restrictions to limit noisier private jet aircraft from using Van Nuys Airport. The FAA said that since the airport had noise restrictions since before the tough 1990 law, they would be able to tighten those restrictions without having to meet the stricter 1990 standards.
FAA officials said there’s been no relaxation of the requirements for installing a curfew. But they also indicated a willingness to work with communities to reduce the level of noise around airports.
“We try to keep an open mind and look at things on the minds of the community,” said Ralph Thompson, assistant manager of the FAA’s environmental division. “Sometimes we can offer up alternative suggestions on things they want to achieve.”
The 1990 federal law came about because communities like Newport Beach were able in the 1980s to restrict noisier aircraft and establish curfews. John Meenan, who is in charge of industry policies for the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry, said these restrictions created havoc in the airline industry.
“Curfews had begun to creep into every significant airport in one way or another,” said Meenan “It became more difficult to schedule an airline. One city decided a curfew based on the noise of an aircraft. Another city did a blanket curfew and there were other types of curfews.”
Meenan said the airline industry agreed to a compromise. In exchange for limiting curfews, the industry agreed to adopt quieter stage 3 aircraft, which it has done. “This Act went to great lengths to try to not put an end to curfews but to see them imposed when they were the vehicle of last resort,” he said.
Cox, who was on the House Transportation Committee at that time, said the 1990 law was snuck through Congress without debate. “I was told that if we had hearings on this, every governor and every mayor would be back in Washington, D.C. and the legislation would never get passed,” said Cox.
Cox opposed the 1990 law because it took control away from local communities. He said he expects federal officials to oppose a curfew at El Toro because it would open the floodgates to other communities seeking curfews.
He said he would push for a federal exemption for both El Toro and John Wayne, packaging them both in the same legislation, which would make it easier to unite the county and thus to pass Congress. El Toro is scheduled to go online in 2005, the same year the curfew at John Wayne is set to expire.
County officials themselves are divided over whether to push for curfews. Some oppose a curfew because that would restrict cargo flights and could weaken support for the airport from airlines. Others think that the county should hold the possibility of a night curfew close to its vest as a bargaining chip, only to be put on the table when and if South County officials accept the concept of an airport.
In its recently released EIR, the county didn’t propose a curfew but suggested mitigation measures that in effect would keep larger noisier planes like the 747s from flying late at night into El Toro.
For airport opponents, it’s a dilemma on whether to push for curfews. To do so right now would acknowledge weakness at a time when they are hopeful that the Measure F initiative in March will stop the airport by requiring a two-thirds majority support for such a project.
ETRPA’s Waters said airport opponents are not lobbying in Washington against a curfew. But then again, they’re not hedging their bets by lobbying for a curfew, either, she said.
“There’s no reason for us to consider lobbying for any kind of restriction because the prospects of an airport diminishes with time,” said Waters. n
Six Steps to a Curfew
(as outlined by the FAA)
n 1: the restriction is reasonable, non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory. There must be evidence that a current or projected noise or access problem exists and the proposed actions could relieve the problem.
n 2: The restriction does not create an undue burden on interstate or foreign commerce. This would mean a cost-benefit analysis that the estimated potential benefits of the restriction have a reasonable chance to exceed the estimated potential cost of the adverse effects on interstate and foreign commerce. This would require evidence that other airports could carry the burden.
n 3: The proposed restriction maintains safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace.
n 4: The proposed restriction does not conflict with any existing federal statutes or regulations.
n 5: The applicant has provided adequate opportunity for public comment on the proposed restriction.
n 6: The proposed restriction does not create an undue burden on the national aviation system.
