FAA releases draft environmental impact statement
for LGA AirTrain, opens virtual public comment period
COMPASSION
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She has a name.
Her health plan actually knows it.
TIMESLEDGER | 24 QNS.COM | AUG. 28-SEPT. 3, 2020
ing from 2 to 4 p.m. on
Thursday, Sept. 24.
Individuals may register
for the FAA’s Zoom
Webinars, or tune in
during the livestream
on their YouTube and
Facebook accounts.
The FAA notified
the Queens Public Library
that branches
can download the DEIS
documents for residents
who are not online.
Residents without
internet access can call
the project hotline at
(855) 542-3479 to submit
formal comment on the
project and/or receive
a dial-in number to listen
to the workshop or
hearing of their choice.
The DEIS examines
the potential environmental
impacts of the
proposed Access Improvement
Project at
LaGuardia Airport
(LGA).
The study examined
the current proposed
plan of an above-ground
automated people mover
from Willets Point to
LGA terminals. Specifically,
it examined the
air train with “three
APM stations; passenger
walkway and circulation
systems connecting
the APM stations
to transportation facilities;
an APM operations,
maintenance,
and storage facility and
parking structure for
airport, APM, and Metropolitan
Transportation
Authority (MTA)
employees; three traction
power substations;
utilities infrastructure;
and various connected
actions to allow
construction and operation
of the proposed
LGA Access Improvement
Project.”
The 34-page long
Executive Summary is
divided into subheads
detailing purpose and
need of the project,
the proposed action
of the current plan,
timeframe of the project,
request for federal
funding, alternatives
actions (including the
current plan, no action
alternative, and other
examined routes), affected
environment,
environmental consequences
and cumulative
impacts, among
others.
The FAA is conducting
the Environmental
Impact Statement
(EIS) for the LGA
AirTrain because the
Port Authority plans
to request funding for
the AirTrain under
the Passenger Facility
Charge (PFC) program.
The FAA’s EIS study
is in accordance with
the National Environmental
Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA), which
requires the FAA to
identify and publicly
disclose the potential
environmental impacts
of the proposed project.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
first proposed the
people mover in 2015,
which was then said to
cost about $450 million;
but the cost is now up
to $2 billion.
The AirTrain has
become a highly contested
project within
Queens grassroots organizations,
but also
has the support of economic
organizations,
including the Queens
Chamber of Commerce.
In June, several local
groups called for
Congress not to direct
COVID-19 federal
stimulus funds for the
Port Authority toward
the project, with particular
concerns over
the project’s environmental
impacts on the
immediate community.
Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
recently voiced her
agreement with the
local groups, much of
which are within her
district.
According to am
New York Metro, the
transit agency is considering
stalling the
project due to months
of loss of revenue as a
result of the COVID-19
pandemic.
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
The Federal Aviation
Administration
released its Draft Environmental
Impact
Statement (DEIS) for
the proposed LaGuardia
Airport AirTrain,
and has opened its public
comment period on
Friday, Aug. 21.
The website lists a
total of five upcoming
public workshops and
hearings — which will
not be held in person
due to COVID-19 —
within a three-day period.
Information on how
to register and comment
on the project is
available, including
how residents can send
on-the-record comments
by U.S. Mail,
email, and through a
web comment form.
The virtual public
comment period for the
DEIS will be 45 days
long, and will end Oct.
5 at 5 p.m.
There will be two
public workshops on
Tuesday, Sept. 22 from
4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and
Wednesday, Sept. 22
from 7 to 9 p.m. with
public hearings following
after.
There will be an additional
public hear-
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