Trenton Threatened Skies, municipalities, home-owners associations and individuals representing over 40,000 residents, filed a Petition for Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit challenging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision to allow the expansion of the terminal at Trenton Mercer International Airport.
Environmental Assessment of the project failed to account for the substantial increase in aircraft operations that expanding the terminal from two gates to four gates will allow. As Robin R. Karpf, MD of Trenton Threatened Skies stated “We are asking the court to review the FAA’s approval of Mercer County politicians and official’s disingenuous premise that this massive expansion project, along with related expansion projects at the airport, will have no significant impact on the surrounding region”.
”Moreover, not only has the airport failed to secure the required stormwater permit and been out of environmental compliance for the last 14 years, the FAA has failed to adequately address the risk of PFAS contamination spread created by the construction of the expanded terminal.
FAA Approval of TTN Expansion Puts Quality of Life At Risk!
Today’s legal action has gained converging support of municipalities and citizens, housing development organizations, local businesses, commercial and civic associations, schools, and environmental advocates!
Current traffic at Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN) is negligible compared to the potential unleashed by the recent FAA approval of $200 million expansion projects adding more than 5 times the commercial jet flight capacity.
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes and the Mercer County Commissioners absurdly claim the proposed terminal expansion will not increase air traffic and therefore they are not evaluating its true impact on the surrounding environment. Trenton Threatened Skies rejects this false narrative and is challenging this erroneous FAA Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).
The current proposal continues Trenton Airport’s cycle of unchecked growth and capacity increases. All residents of the Greater Mercer-Bucks area will suffer unintended environmental, public health, economic and quality of life negative consequences.
This is a Trojan horse with costly, hidden impacts:
- Commercial flights overhead every 7 1/2 minutes
- Increase risk of lead exposure from smaller planes’ leaded-gas emissions.
- Risks of Water contamination to local wells, streams and the Delaware River Watershed. Toxic contaminants include heavy metals & PFAS.
- Unhealthy air quality from dangerous fine particulate jet fuel emissions.
- Increased noise pollution, including night flights, resulting in sleep disruption, psychological stress and impact on childhood learning.
- Erosion of local home values.
- Illness and public health costs: asthma, heart attacks, preterm delivery & other illnesses are directly related to airplane emissions.
The TTN expansion is a Lose/Lose scenario!
- The volume of traffic must increase to repay the $200 million expense.
- If air traffic doesn’t massively increase, the cost will be a burden paid by Mercer County taxpayers for generations.
This accumulative fallout will render the region unrecognizable in the next decade!
Far from a done deal, the recent FAA Decision to green light the TTN expansion is the beginning of the legal fight and public awareness campaign!
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See May 12, 2022 Editorial in Bucks County Herald
