Both Rep. Lee Zeldin and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer are calling on the FAA to schedule a public hearing on the North Shore Helicopter Route.
The three workshops held this week on Long Island, including one in Riverhead Wednesday evening do not comply with the agency’s legislative mandate to hold a public hearing, Schumer said in a Nov. 16 letter to FAA Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell.
“The FAA’s current implementation of section 182 is insufficient,” Schumer wrote, referring to the section of the FAA Reauthorization Act signed into law by President Trump on Oct. 5 that states, “Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment…the Administrator shall hold a public hearing in the communities impacted by the regulations to solicit feedback with respect to the regulations.”
Schumer said in the letter he supports “an all-water North Shore route that includes an extension of the current route around Orient Point and Shelter Island, as well as an all-water route on the South Shore.” Read Schumer’s letter here.
In a letter to FAA Eastern Region Administrator Jennifer Solomon, Zeldin also demanded the agency immediately schedule a public hearing as required by the statute, which the congressman authored.
In addition to failing to comply with the statutory requirements, Zeldin said, the workshops held this week were “an insult” to local residents, many of whom “strongly believe they were seemingly formatted to stifle the true negative impact of this route, the degradation of the the day to day quality of life of so many residents of the East End.”
Zeldin also reiterated his call for transparency in the agency’s future consideration of extending the rule, which is set to expire in 2020. The agency in 2016 extended the rule for four years without notice or any public comment period, acting on an “emergency” basis. Read Zeldin’s letter here.
“From the North Shore Helicopter Route’s planning to its continued use, the FAA has flat-out ignored the residents directly affected and, although the FAA is now forced to listen as enshrined in federal law, these ‘workshops’ have given Long Islanders a bad case of deja vu,” Zeldin said in a statement released to the press Friday.
Local elected officials and residents who attended the workshop in Riverhead Wednesday expressed frustration at the format of the session, as well as the failure of the FAA to send representatives with decision-making authority.
Riverhead Councilwoman Catherine Kent on Wednesday called the format “a complete charade.” If the FAA thought they were going to appease residents with the forum, they were mistaken, she said.
“People are leaving more upset than when they came in because they’re not being heard,” Kent said.
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