SR1552 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1552 LRB099 20804 MST 45512 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The O'Hare Modernization Program, approved in 2003, has generated serious noise issues that affect the quality of life and health of a significant number of household residents living adjacent to the airport, especially persons who live directly east and west of the new parallel runways that now carry most of O'Hare's jet airplane traffic; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the federal agency that regulates all aspects of United States commercial flight, granted permission to the City of Chicago and O'Hare airport to carry out its current expansion, and its permission was based on: (a) noise projections generated prior to approval of the modernization plan, and (b) ongoing monitoring of O'Hare airport noise through the use of noise-monitoring technology that was adequate for that purpose based upon 1990s standards; and

WHEREAS, During the years since the Illinois General Assembly approved the O'Hare Modernization Program in 2003, the City of Chicago has carried out noise monitoring in cooperation with the FAA based upon the technological standards and practices that were in place at the start of the modernization program; and

WHEREAS, The "noise contour maps" generated by City of Chicago/FAA data are public documents that are used to measure the impact of O'Hare noise on its neighbors and, in some cases, to allocate soundproofing aid to owners of residential, educational, commercial, and industrial properties, if they are located within the "contours" of noise impact measured by O'Hare Modernization Program noise impact collection data; and

WHEREAS, Many of the constituents of the co-sponsors of this resolution do not live within these Modernization Program noise contours, but tell us that they are severely and negatively affected by O'Hare Airport noise; and

WHEREAS, New technologies, distributed and made available since 2003, have created a new standard, the "Community Noise Equivalent Level" or CNEL for short, which has significantly changed and improved the way that technology can measure the impact of airplane noise on human quality of life; and

WHEREAS, In response to Illinois constituent concerns, the General Assembly, in the spring of 2015, enacted P.A. 99-202, amending the Permanent Noise Monitoring Act to mandate the use, going forward, of Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) technologies and noise measurement data in the monitoring of noise in and around O'Hare Airport; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we commend the generation of new CNEL data as a way for the communities around O'Hare International Airport to better understand the impact of airport noise on their communities and quality of life; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we commend the City of Chicago for supporting P.A. 99-202 and call upon it to continue to take steps to implement the law and generate the data mandated by this Public Act; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call upon the Federal Aviation Administration to assist the City of Chicago in the implementation of P.A. 99-202, including the siting, re-siting, and re-equipping of noise monitoring stations, and the generation and publication of data generated by these stations in conformity with CNEL professional standards; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we re-affirm that the noise contour maps that cover areas surrounding O'Hare Airport, and describe the impacts of noise upon these communities, should be based upon the best and newest possible data and technology; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call upon the FAA to use new CNEL data to revisit the existing noise contour maps that cover areas surrounding O'Hare Airport, and to promptly redraw these maps as new airport noise data is submitted; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be submitted to the Director of the Federal Aviation Administration and to the Mayor of the City of Chicago.