Three HCCA members were appointed to the RT in 2017 (Paul Verchinski, Howard Johnson, and Rusty Toler). The RT was formed by appointees named by MD State Senators, County Executives, and County Councils and are volunteers. The RT has met for the past year with very limited success.
Click to view the Press Release and the first Annual Report. The Annual Report provides the RT views/conclusions to date on NextGen related issues and actions/observations to date.
In Jan, 2017, the Howard County Council passed CB8-2017 that authorized Howard County to litigate over the noise produced from the FAA NextGen project which now is a super highway in the sky over Howard County. CB8-2017 was subsequently signed into law by County Executive Kittleman. Unfortunately, to date no litigation has commenced over this quality of life issue. So a year has gone by without any action on the part of elected officials that represent us.
In Sept, 2017, Governor Hogan requested MD Attorney General Frosh to initiate litigation over this same issue. To date, no litigation has been initiated. Phoenix litigated this very same issue and won in court against the FAA. The FAA has a monopoly in the US National Air Space and only reacts to litigation.
The RT can only rely on elected officials to ultimately resolve this quality of life issue thru litigation.