[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4093 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4093

To require the Federal Aviation Administration to address the aircraft 
       noise problems of New Jersey and Staten Island, New York.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 1996

Mr. Franks of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. Molinari, Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
 and Mr. Martini) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
           the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Federal Aviation Administration to address the aircraft 
       noise problems of New Jersey and Staten Island, New York.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bi-State Aircraft Noise Correction 
Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATION, AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Expanded East Coast Plan of the Federal Aviation 
        Administration has resulted in significantly increased levels 
        of aircraft noise over New Jersey;
            (2) over the past 30 years, and especially since the 
        implementation of the Expanded East Coast Plan, relentless 
        noise from aircraft departing from Newark International Airport 
        has adversely affected the residents of northwestern Staten 
        Island, New York;
            (3) the Federal Aviation Administration has stalled, 
        obfuscated, resisted, and delayed any meaningful attempt to 
        mitigate the aircraft noise problem in New Jersey created by 
        the Administration through implementation of the Expanded East 
        Coast Plan; and
            (4) the efforts of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
        mitigate aircraft noise levels on Staten Island have been 
        inadequate.
    (b) Declaration.--Congress declares that the Federal Aviation 
Administration should remedy the problem it has created, to the maximum 
extent practicable, by formulating and implementing plans to mitigate 
aircraft noise over certain areas of New Jersey and Staten Island.
    (c) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to compel the 
Administrator to mitigate aircraft noise over certain areas of New 
Jersey and Staten Island.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN AIRCRAFT NOISE OVER NEW JERSEY.

    Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 
(hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ``Administrator'') shall 
develop and publish, without compromising safety, a comprehensive plan 
to reduce aircraft generated noise in New Jersey by 6 decibels (yearly 
day-night average sound level) for at least 80 percent of the people 
residing within 18 nautical miles of Newark International Airport, 
relative to the noise values reported in the Federal Aviation 
Administration document, ``Environmental Impact Statement, Runway 11 
ILS at Newark International Airport (September 16, 1993)'', and 
excluding regions where aircraft-generated noise exceeds 65 decibels 
(yearly day-night average sound level).

SEC. 4. REDUCTION IN AIRCRAFT NOISE OVER STATEN ISLAND.

    Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Administrator shall develop and publish a plan to investigate 
and test southbound departure procedures from runway 22 of Newark 
International Airport that will fully utilize, without compromising 
safety, all of the allowable and available climbout airspace and that 
will result in a minimum 25 percent decrease in aircraft noise on the 
ground in northwestern Staten Island. The Administrator shall also 
investigate a straight-out southbound departure from runway 22.

SEC. 5. OTHER MEASURES.

    (a) Remediation Efforts.--The Administrator shall undertake such 
remediation efforts as may be necessary to mitigate aircraft noise 
within the sound level contour described in section 3 pursuant to part 
150 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
    (b) Nonapplicability of EIS Requirement.--In carrying out the 
activities under this Act, the Administrator shall not be required to 
prepare an environmental impact statement in accordance with the 
National Environment Policy Act of 1969 or any other law.

SEC. 6. PROCEDURE.

    (a) Standing.--In order to ensure compliance with this Act by the 
Administrator--
            (1) the New Jersey Citizens for Environmental Research, and
            (2) a group to be designated by the Staten Island Borough 
        President,
shall have standing in United States district court to compel the 
Administrator to comply with this Act.
    (b) Venue.--The venue for any such action shall be the United 
States district court in Newark, New Jersey.
    (c) Attorney's Fees.--
            (1) Award.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        Administrator shall pay court costs and reasonable attorney 
        fees incurred by the organizations referred to in subsection 
        (a) with respect to an action to compel the Administrator to 
        comply with this Act. Punitive damages may not be awarded.
            (2) Limitation.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply if the judge 
        imposes a sanction under rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil 
        Procedure on an attorney, law firm, or party in the plaintiff's 
        case or if the suit is dismissed by a judge on a motion by the 
        defendants for summary judgment.

SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION.

    (a) Deadlines.--The Federal Aviation Administration shall begin 
implementation of--
            (1) the plan described in section 3 on or before 90th day 
        after the date of publication of the plan;
            (2) the plan described in section 4 on or before 90th day 
        after the date of publication of the plan; and
            (3) the plan described in section 3 or 4 on or before 90th 
        day after the date of any judicial order or settlement 
        agreement which is issued or entered into in response to a 
        civil action brought in accordance with section 6(a) and which 
        requires the implementation of such plan.
    (b) Limitation.--No plan described in section 3 or 4 shall have the 
effect of reducing aircraft arrivals to or departures from Newark 
International Airport.
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