Flim-Flam Artists at Work

A comment on the Part 150 noise study at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

The work of the Part 150 noise-study team is almost over. The basic contents of the final report are already available in the study team’s presentation on 29 July to the so-called Technical Review Committee. (Available at the special website for the study.) Even a casual look at slide 32 in that presentation will show how very little is being proposed for noise relief or noise mitigation. This is not much result for a study that will cost more than a million dollars.

The really interesting part of this process is the "flim-flam" that has gone on. As any good magician knows, success comes by getting the audience looking one way while he is working in the other direction. 

Almost all of the public meetings/process were directed at the way the Part 150 study was being conducted. While this was going on, the study consultants, Landrum & Brown, were working outside of the public view or review on the actual subjects of the study. 

In July they published the "2009 noise contour maps", the "Aviation planning forecast", and the outline of the "Noise Compatibility Plan". These are the required basics of a Part 150 process.

A Part 150 study is supposed to look at NOISE REDUCTION, NOISE MITIGATION, and LAND USE PLANNING. The noise-study team have successfully completed a Part 150 study without touching any of these topics.