Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts 5th, and Adam Smith, D-Washington 9th, sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration 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,” said Clark and 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.”