DONOVAN WILL JOIN WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS TO BLOCK ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS OVER BERGEN COUNTY

For Immediate Release: May 18, 2006
Contact: Alan C. Marcus 201-902-9000

Kathleen Donovan, Republican candidate for County Executive, has told the Federal Aviation Administration that she will work with local officials "to develop legal and other strategies to block any regulation proposed by the FAA which threatens the health and safety of local residents."

Donovan said that she and running mates Elizabeth Randall and Ed Trawinski who are candidates for Freeholder and Surrogate candidate Jae Kim are committed to working with local officials from throughout Bergen County to block any expansion of airline traffic over populated areas.

Donovan's comments were sent to the FAA which is currently considering new flight patterns which would redirect numerous flights over Bergen County.

Donovan told the FAA, " I write to protest your plan to expand flight patterns in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area over heavily populated areas of Bergen County. This proposal threatens both the safety and well being of tens of thousand of local residents without any compensating public benefit.

"As a past Chair of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey I am quite familiar with issues surrounding the region's three airports. Frankly, we have too many planes trying to squeeze into too little space. The adding of additional flights only exacerbates the existing congestion issue. The proposed new flight patterns over northern Bergen County are designed to accommodate increased traffic without concern to health and safety. Your role as a Federal agency should be to make certain that the public is protected...and not the airlines.

"I would urge you to scrap the current revisions you are considering and begin a new process which would include holding hearings in impacted areas after proper notification. I would also suggest that your first priority be to establish flight plans over water and not over populated areas. The airline industry (including cargo as will as passenger carriers) should be required to adjust to whatever market pressures arise. Their operations can be flexible. Residents do not have that luxury.

"Please be advised that it is my intention to meet with local officials of impacted communities to develop legal and other strategies to block any regulation proposed by the FAA which threatens the health and safety of local residents," Donovan concluded.

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