Suburban officials who have been fighting noise and pollution problems at O`Hare International Airport for nearly two decades expressed qualified support Thursday for a Republican legislative proposal aimed at eradicating such problems.
”Anytime you can have meaningful input in finding ways and means of correcting noise and air pollution problems at O`Hare, that`s something I would endorse,” said Elk Grove Village Mayor Charles Zettek.
”But what is the price for getting that, and what comes along with that?” Zettek asked, echoing the questions of several suburban officials reacting to House GOP Leader Lee Daniels` noise-control proposal announced Wednesday in Springfield.
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”I don`t know all the details, and I suspect nobody else does,” said Zettek, vice chairman of the Suburban O`Hare Commission, a 15-year-old organization that represents the airport concerns of 13 suburbs in Cook and Du Page Counties.
Under Daniels` proposal, a nine-member panel would be formed to oversee noise-abatement projects and policies at O`Hare. The panel also would have authority to develop flight patterns and takeoff and landing policies, subject to the approval of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The panel would also be authorized to spend $240 million on soundproofing projects for homes, schools and hospitals affected by airport noise.
Sen. Marty Butler (R-Park Ridge), who has been one of the suburbs`
leading voices against airport noise and air pollution, called the proposal a ”complete surprise” to himself and several mayors he spoke with Thursday.
Based on the information he did have, however, Butler questioned whether the proposal could really affect operations at O`Hare.
”It depends on what authority is given this organization,” he said.
”Frankly, the FAA to a large extent controls the noise situation (at O`Hare) and I don`t see how any state law can overcome their resistance to community concerns. They`ve never been sympathetic to the community, so I don`t see how a state law can push that aside.”
An FAA spokesman said the federal agency would have no comment on the Daniels` proposal unless it actually resulted in formation of a noise-relief commission.
Daniels` proposal, which is distinct from Gov. Jim Edgar`s previous call for the establishment of a regional airport authority to oversee operations at O`Hare, Midway Airport and the proposed Lake Calumet airport, did draw a reaction Thursday from the governor.
Edgar said he had no objections to the establishment of a separate commission to tackle noise problems at O`Hare, and he didn`t believe the commission would be at odds with the proposed regional airport authority.
”I could see where that could help,” Edgar said of the proposed O`Hare panel. ”I don`t view it as a conflict (with the regional airport authority). We don`t have one yet.”
Edgar also indicated that even if the Lake Calumet airport proposal did not come before the General Assembly this spring, the issue of noise pollution at O`Hare would still be a concern for lawmakers.
”That issue (noise) would still be before the General Assembly this year, even without a third airport,” he said.
Kathy Lane, executive director of the Suburban O`Hare Commission, said she also believed the issue of an O`Hare panel should be kept separate from the debate over the Lake Calumet airport proposal.
”Something like this is not going to get the Suburban O`Hare Commission to sign on to Lake Calumet,” she said. ”Those issues are separate.”
Lane also said she wanted to study Daniels` proposal more thoroughly before announcing the group`s position on the plan. ”What we don`t know yet is if this bill contains meaningful noise relief,” she said.
Daniels said that under his proposal, the noise panel would be charged with issuing up to $240 million in soundproofing grants for airport-noise affected homes, schools and hospitals in the six-county metropolitan area. Funding would come from bonds repaid through federal airport trust funds.
Currently, 27 elementary, junior high and high schools near the airport area have been soundproofed against airport noise, a process that averages about $1 million per school, Lane said. Twenty additional schools are expected to seek soundproofing grants in the near future.
Soundproofing, however, is not the only answer to the O`Hare problem that the commission is looking for, Lane said.
”The real issue between the suburbs and the City of Chicago is that real noise control at O`Hare would have to involve the elimination of operations,” she said. ”O`Hare operations are so huge that you just can`t move flight plans around and say there`s less noise.”
Also expressing reservations about the proposal, but for different reasons, was Laura G. Davis, executive director of the Northwest Suburban Association of Commerce and Industry, a 1,200-member group representing business interests in 37 communities near the airport.
The association previously announced its support for the modernization and expansion of O`Hare with at least one new runway.
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”Anything that would reduce the noise, we`re in favor of,” she said.
”But we want them (lawmakers) to consider the economic impact O`Hare has had on the area. We don`t want O`Hare to be driven out of the area. We want it to remain a strong economic engine. . . . This is not the solution to that problem.”
Robert Repel, the airport negotiator for Mayor Richard Daley, indicated that the city would fight Daniels` proposal. He said the formation of such a panel would only duplicate the already existing O`Hare Advisory Commission, a panel of suburban mayors and representatives of the airlines, the FAA, the City of Chicago and area businesses. It was formed nearly 10 years ago to deal with noise problems and land use at O`Hare.
”We already have something in place,” he said, adding that he especially objected to ”breaking off into other entities” that would operate separately from the proposed regional airport authority.