To the Editor:

RIAC lost 1,922 planes last summer.

No, the Bermuda Triangle has not migrated to Greenwich Bay! But somehow the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) lost 1,922 planes from its noise report last September. During July, August, and September, 2009, 11,195 planes arrived at T.F. Green Airport. Only 9,273 planes took off. What happened to the other 1,922 planes?

Last October the Beacon reported in New forecast to cut impact of runway that Kevin Dillon, RIAC’s president, said that “fewer homes will come within the noise contours, making (fewer) eligible for acquisition or soundproofing.” Mayor Scott Avedisian stated, “Regardless of how many homes, we have to have an accurate EIS. It’s the only way of knowing where we are going.” So, where are the missing planes?

FAA’s James Peters was quoted in the same Beacon article as saying, “No decisions have been made on the type or number of hearings” about the EIS. Well, two hearings, required by Rhode Island state law, are being buried by RIAC into “public meeting” formats and have not been publicized – until now. We know what a fiasco that public meeting was last spring at the Crowne Plaza. Hundreds of people were milling around and did not have a chance to speak about the issues. They could only ask questions, not make statements. We want official hearings in which statements can be made! That’s a fundamental American right.

In spite of RIAC President Kevin Dillon's promise to the Warwick City Council to reach out to the people, he has chosen to bury the state-required hearings on these missing flights by calling for public meetings at obscure places at inconvenient times: 12:30 p.m. at the Hall Library on Broad Street in Cranston next Wednesday, Feb. 10th, and at the RIAC boardroom next Thursday, Feb. 11th, at noon.

Are these meetings important? You bet they are! State statute requires public hearings rather than these more informal public meetings. Federal regulations require that RIAC follow both state and federal laws, including a thirty-day notice period, the public hearing, and a public comment period.

This is the beginning of the EIS review process. The topics discussed at these “hearings” will be built into the EIS. If nobody shows up, then RIAC can pretty much do whatever it wants, including the veiling of the disappearing-plane scenario, described above.

It is time for the mayor to act. He needs to call in the Warwick rep on the RIAC board and demand an emergency meeting to discuss these bogus public meetings – meetings that do not meet state or federal law.

Richard Langseth

Greenwich Bay Watershed Group

Warwick