Senate kills bill to monitor airplane noise

Human Events, Nov 6, 1998

On September 24, by a vote of 69 to 27, the Senate agreed a motion by Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) to table (kill) Sen. Robert Torricelli's (D.-N.J.) amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill (S 2279) that would have re-established the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Noise Abatement and Control and commissioned an EPA study on airport noise.

"I do so in recognition of the reality of life of hundreds of thousands of people that I represent-who, by the chance of the place of their birth or where they choose to live-have a daily encounter with the rising problem of airplane noise in our country Torricelli said.

He said that since Congress eliminated the Office of Noise Abatement and Control under the EPA and transferred jurisdiction to the FAA, the problem has been neglected because the FAA's mission is more technical than environmental.

"Noise is a pollution," he continued. "it is a very real part of the quality of life of most people in our country, impacting their communities.... The amendment I offer today, of which I now speak, would reengage the EPA in the serious business of evaluating alternatives and the impacts of airplane noise."

Torricelli said that 25 million Americans deal with airplane noise every day, and that the problem will only get worse because the FAA predicts that by the year 2002 there will be 36% more airplane flights than there are now.

McCain countered that other FAA estimates show that by the year 2000, the population exposed to aircraft noise will be only 600,000, a decrease from 4.5 million just eight years ago. He said that given this trend,Torricelli's amendment is "unnecessary" and argued that reestablishing the OffiCe of Noise Abatement and Control represents "a needless return to big government."

McCain also pointed out that aviation noise involves a balancing of technological, safety, airspace management, research and land-use concerns and that the FAA is best equipped to address these issues.

"Replication of the necessary expertise within the EPA, along with the creation of jurisdictional ambiguities, would not only be wasteful of our limited federal resources, but would also serve to complicate and confound existing efforts to deal with and better understand community noise concerns," he said.

"The fact of the matter is that the EPA does not have any expertise in aerodynamics, which is fundamental to addressing aircraft noise issues:'

A majority agreed, and the motion to table passed by a wide margin.

A "yes" vote is a vote in favor of motion to table (kill) an amendment to re-establish the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Noise Abatement and Control and commission an EPA study on airplane noise, and is, in effect, a vote against the legislation. A "no" vote is a vote against the motion to table (kill) and is, in effect, a vote in favor of the amendment.

FOR THE MOTION TO TABLE: 69

REPUBLICANS FOR (50): Abraham, Allard, Ashcroft, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Burns, Campbell, Chafee, Coats, Cochran, Collins, Coverdell, Craig, DeWine, Enzi, Faircloth, Frist, Gorton, Gramm, Grams, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Helms, Hutchinson (Ark.), Inhofe, Kempthorne, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Mack, McCain, McConnell, Murkowski, Nickles, Roberts, Roth, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith (Ore.), Smith (N.H.), Snowe, Stevens, Thomas, Thompson, Thurmond and Warner.

DEMOCRATS FOR (19): Akaka, Baucus, Bingaman, Breaux, Bryan, Cleland, Conrad, Daschle, Dorgan, Feingold, Ford, Graham, Harkin, Inouye, Kerrey (Neb.), Kohl, Landrieu, Rockefeller and Wyden.

AGAINST THE MOTION TO TABLE: 27

REPUBLICANS AGAINST (5): D'Amato, Domenici, Hutchison (Tex.), Jeffords and Specter

DEMOCRATS AGAINST (22): Biden, Boxer, Bumpers, Byrd, Dodd, Durbin, Feinstein, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerry (Mass.), Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Mikulski, Moynihan, Murray, Reed (R.I.), Reid (Nev.), Robb, Sarbanes and Torricelli.

NOT VOTING (4): Glenn, Hollings, Moseley-Braun and Wellstone.