FAA Wins Ruling Over Changes at Boston Airport

(CN) - The town of Marshfield, Mass., failed to prove that it was harmed by new traffic patterns at Logan Airport in Boston, the 1st Circuit ruled.

Officials in the town, which is located 25 miles south of the airport, lost their petition for review of the Federal Aviation Administration decision to approve changes in the runway layout of Logan Airport.

The town claimed the FAA violated federal law - and its own rules - when it rerouted oceanside arrivals and departures at higher altitudes.

An FAA study showed that noise levels would actually decrease in Marshfield at most of the points it measured.

Marshfield countered that the FAA failed to use a computerized model to study the noise instead. However, Judge Boudin found that the town did not have an adequate reply for the FAA's explanation that the computer model is used to measure multiple airports over wide areas.

Marshfield officials also complained that they were not included in meetings of the Logan Community Advisory Committee (CAC) or the Boston Technical Advisory Committee (BOS/TAC).

"Marshfield points to no facts showing that the FAA manages or controls BOS/TAC," Boudin wrote. "(CAC) is not even remotely an advisory committee under the FAA's management or control."

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