FAA Files Tone Deaf Response To Trenton Threatened Skies US 3rd Circuit Appeal Focused On Inadequate Airport Expansion Due Diligence To Protect the Environment & Public Health

The FAA has filed its written response to the Trenton Threatened Skies (TTS) community advocacy group lawsuit filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals late last year.

The TTS appeal focuses on inadequate study, preparation and advance cleanup arrangements in the Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN) expansion plan which could lead to potentially devastating PFAS contamination of the Delaware River watershed and other local water resources.

The well documented presence of the PFAS “Forever Chemicals” public health threat on TTN property adjacent to an EPA Super Fund site, has been dismissed by Mercer County without producing the customary Environmental Impact Statement or a cumulative Health Impact Statement (HIS).

Preparing to do massive site work for a new 125,000 sq ft airport terminal, Mercer County, with the backing of the FAA, risks mobilizing tons of PFAS tainted soil along with hundreds of thousands of gallons of runoff, to contaminate the drinking water resources of up to 17 million Americans.

In its response to the TTS Federal Appeal, the FAA written brief doubles down on the false and misleading statements made for the record during the planning and approval process.

The FAA is sticking with the absurd premise by Mercer County that a 5-fold $200 million plus upgrade of airport facilities, and the approval of more gates and taxiways, are “repairs and maintenance jobs” as opposed to expansion projects.

The FAA continues to back the scurrilous $4 million engineering consulting plan that segmented approvals process, breaking the work down into as many as 50 smaller jobs to avoid environmental compliance requirements.

The FAA accepted the laughable Environmental Justice study which examined the impact of the airport expansion on rural and residential areas many miles away while doing no survey of environmental and health impacts in the Trenton neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

The FAA backs the earlier contention of Mercer County that they will mitigate PFAS contamination risks while the project is being built, though there has been no official agreement on the extent of the problem and no plan for remediation or mitigation has been presented.

The FAA provides tacit approval of the slipshod process Mercer County/TTN created to achieve their agenda goals despite the numerous instances of false and misleading information finding its way into the public record.

TTS and an alliance of local groups representing 40,000 residents of the region are opposed to the reckless expansion of the airport.

Following the response from the FAA to the TTS Federal 3rd Circuit Appeal, a 3-Judge Panel is expected to review the filings from all parties and set a date for oral arguments from both sides.

If the TTS Appeal is successful Trenton-Mercer Airport will finally be forced to acknowledge the impact of their planned massive expansion and revisit the subsequent environmental and public health issues to the satisfaction of the court.

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