Town Sues Massport Over Runway; Future of Plan Unclear After Attacks

HULL, MA-This town has filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Port Authority accusing the agency of lying to the state environmental agency over the impact of a new runway at Logan International Airport. Hull, along with a number of other local towns, are trying to block the development of the proposed runway but officials at Massport tell GlobeSt.com say that after the terror attacks, their focus is no longer on the expansion.

Town manager Phil Lemnois tells GlobeSt.com that in its lawsuit the town contends that Massport underestimated the noise impact of the proposed runway by 900% and failed to disclose all the types of aircraft it would accommodate. The lawsuit also maintains that Massport didn’t identify flight tracks or explore alternatives sufficiently. “The thrust is we feel that they omitted a serious amount of information that would allow people reviewing the information to have a clear picture,” he says. “We believe the material was prepared with the intent to deceive.” Hull along with Hingham, Cohasset, Revere, Everett, Winthrop and Somerville–which are all contributing financially to the lawsuit–are concerned about the increase in air traffic a new runway will bring over their towns. According to Lemnois, the air traffic will impact the property values, the air quality and the noise in Hull and its neighboring towns.

The runway still needs to go through the Federal Aviation Administration environmental process and needs to get a court order to lift an injunction on building a new runway at Logan. The city of Boston is in the process of trying to prevent that injunction from being lifted. Lemnois says that he hopes that the information that Hull provides in the lawsuit will help the FAA come to its decision. “It’s impossible to come to a proper decision with flawed material,” he notes. The new runway was approved by the state’s environmental agency.