WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Katherine Clark (MA-05) and Adam Smith (WA-09) sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Steve Dickson urging the agency to implement report language from the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2021 that would help communities with repairing or replacing noise mitigation on homes.

“Residences across our districts received sound insulation and other mitigation in the earliest phases of the FAA’s noise mitigation program in the 1980s and 1990s,” wrote Reps. Katherine Clark and Adam Smith. “At the time, materials used for sound insulation were of lower quality than what is used today. Additionally, the installation in the early phases of the program was sometimes done without proper ventilation or attention to other structural concerns, leading to cases of mold or structural damage in certain homes. To ensure the airports can take advantage of this exemption, it is vital that the FAA quickly establish a process for airports to be reimbursed for repairing or replacing noise mitigation in homes that were installed prior to 1993.”

Airport Improvement Program (AIP) regulations bar airports from applying for federal funds for the same project more than one time, meaning that residences with failing sound insulation historically have not been entitled to repairs or replacements using AIP funds. The report language included in the appropriations bill passed at the end of the year directed the FAA to allow airports to utilize AIP funds for the purpose of repairing or replacing noise mitigation on homes that were insulated prior to 1993.

The full letter is available here.