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Reps. Panetta, Eshoo, Speier Respond to FAA Decision Not to Adopt Select Committee Recommendation on Aircraft Noise

July 23, 2021

Today U.S. Reps. Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18), and Jackie Speier (CA-14) released the following joint statement on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) decision not to adopt the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals recommendation to create a new NextGen procedure for arrivals into SFO from the south using the BIG SUR arrival flight path:

"On behalf of so many of our constituents, we are extremely disappointed with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) decision not to adopt the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals recommendation to create a new NextGen procedure for arrivals into SFO from the south using the BIG SUR arrival flight path. The Select Committee worked tirelessly for nine months from May 25th to November 17, 2016 and held thirteen public meetings throughout our three Congressional Districts with over 3, 500 constituents participating in the meetings to develop the SERFR/BIG SUR consensus recommendations which we transmitted to the FAA on December 2, 2016. It has taken the FAA 55 months to respond in full to the recommendations. There is no excuse for why it has taken this long, despite our best efforts to engage directly with multiple FAA Administrators spanning three Administrations."

"We thank our constituents who engaged in this long and arduous process, and we are grateful to the local governments who invested in the regional Airport Roundtables that made these workshops possible. We also appreciate the commitment made by the FAA at the workshops to remain engaged with the Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and SFO Roundtables. Our constituents' participation brought the FAA to the table for a dialogue on airplane noise reduction, and we are committed to supporting their continuing efforts."

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