[ back ]
Air quality study deemed inconclusive
(by Darius Amos and Joey Messineo - February 29, 2008)
Fumes from taxiing jets are responsible for air pollution, but a study released last month revealed that the air quality around busy Teterboro Airport isn’t much worse than it is throughout Bergen County’s other urban neighborhoods.
Paid for by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, the study, which was made public during a special meeting at Becton Regional High School in East Rutherford, stated that certain health risks were elevated near the airport.
“The results of the air quality study of Teterboro Airport are not a surprise to any of us that live in the vicinity,” said Corinne Wehrle, a Little Ferry resident and the borough’s representative of the Teterboro Airport Noise Abatement Committee.
The committee is comprised of residents and officials from municipalities surrounding Teterboro Airport. Towns included in that coalition are Bogota, Hackensack, Little Ferry, South Hackensack, Ridgefield Park and Teaneck, among others.
Wehrle added, “It is important to mention that the management at the airport do try to work with the neighboring communities, however, certain facts remain beyond their control.”
Over the past decade, the Port Authority, which manages the airport, has worked with the neighboring communities and launched the air quality study in 2006. The research consisted of air samples collected from the industrial side of the airport, as well as two other locations surrounding Teterboro. Data collectors wore a special air quality test badge, and other badges were placed inside homes and under the cover of a sheltered area.
Air quality was measured through 2006, and the results were presented to more than 100 residents and coalition members last month.
The study revealed that an increased number of “volatile organic compounds” were found when compared with other neighborhoods in the state. Other carcinogens, among them black carbon, were also found, but were the result of the airport and surrounding roadways, such as heavily-congested routes 17 and 46.
Though his town is not actively involved with the committee, Ridgefield Park Mayor George Rosdick said he does not know of residents or officials who represent the village. In response to the study’s findings, Fosdick said that it is difficult to target where the pollution in the area is actually coming from.
“It’s hard to pin-down where pollution stems from. We have major highways in the area, in addition to the airport and the railroad in Ridgefield Park, all of which contribute to the pollution,” Fosdick said.
U.S. Representative Steve Rothman, who has championed of quality of life issues around Teterboro, released a statement in response to the study results.
“Some may argue that the air quality results in this study seem are on par with that of other airports, suggesting they are acceptable. However, that view misses the point: Teterboro Airport was never intended to serve as a major hub…” he said.
“Teterboro is a reliever airport, located right in the middle of a neighborhood. Residents live just a few hundred yards from the runways where the sensors for this study were placed. Teterboro air traffic, and the resulting noise and air pollution, are clear impediments to the quality of life for Teterboro area residents. This study does not answer all of the questions I have posed, nor does it address all the concerns of residents. But it is proof that continued work is needed to decrease the number and size of aircraft operating at Teterboro Airport."
The size and number of jets that use the airport is trouble to many residents, including Wehrle.
“The arrival and departure routes for aircraft from Teterboro are very close to Hackensack University Medical Center well as the high-rises on Prospect Avenue. This is an accident waiting to happen,” Wehrle told Hackensack Chronicle, adding that the coalition and the Port Authority have pleaded with the Federal Aviation Administration to change flight patterns.
“These requests fall on deaf ears.”
“There should be an assessment to the damage to homes that people are incurring who live in the flight pattern of arriving and departing aircraft,” she added.
Wehrle, who has been a coalition member for eight years, said the biggest issue with the airport has been noise. The committee members meet four times a year to discuss the issues surrounding the airport and even shoulder some costs to pay for studies.
In 2001, the coalition funded a two-day study conducted by Environ. That test served as a model study, which led to future air quality and noise tests.
“Noise makes you stop and think,” said Wehrle. “[But] more concern is what is in the air that you are breathing. If you get rid of the noise will you forget what it is you are breathing?”
Additional reporting by Robin DeCicco.
[ back ]
