He maintains that the runway violates the law because communities most affected by the runway have larger percentages of African-Americans and other people of color. A 1994 law instructs Federal agencies to address the issue of severe environmental impacts on minority or low-income communities. According to the 2000 census, over 50% of Boston residents are people of color. In East Boston that number goes up to 50.3%. Menino claims that Massachusetts Port Authority, which backs the runway with the Federal Aviation Administration, relies on the 1990 census for its figures.

"MassPort has not adequately addressed how the expansion plan will affect local streets in terms of air quality and traffic," Toni Pollak, director of the environmental department at city hall, tells GlobeSt.com. "They've segmented this project. They don't address the ground transportation impact." Pollak also questions the methodology MassPort used in its testing. "We asked for back-up data and we never got it," she says. "They did not look adequately into the health impact, traffic and quality of life issues."

MassPort did not return GlobeSt.com's calls for comment. The FAA, which sponsored the hearing, released a study that puts Logan the country's fifth most-delayed airport. A representative of the organization would only tell GlobeSt.com that "the runway is currently being reviewed. The hearing was held last night to get more public response." FAA spokesperson Laura Brown did not return GlobeSt.com's calls.