Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) today announced that the Senate Commerce Committee’s bipartisan draft of the FAA Reauthorization bill includes their provision to help soundproof the Lennox and Inglewood schools from nearby airport noise.  Boxer is a member of the Commerce Committee and worked to get the language included in the FAA bill. 

The provision would permit the enactment of the settlement reached between the City of Los Angeles and the Lennox and Inglewood School Districts to allow the schools to use passenger facility fees for noise reduction projects – to the tune of $110 million over ten years.

Boxer said, “I am so pleased that the Senate Commerce Committee has recognized the need for this important legislation.  We are one step closer to giving the students at Lennox and Inglewood schools a long overdue break from rattling windows and the roar of low-flying planes.  This bill gets us on our way to soundproofing the schools from aircraft noise so that students can focus on their studies instead of being disrupted by the sounds of a jet every few minutes.”

“Every day, the students of the Lennox and Inglewood School Districts are disrupted by airplanes flying overhead every few minutes.  This deafening noise makes it difficult for the students to concentrate and learn.  But our colleagues on the Commerce Committee have agreed to include a measure to help soundproof the schools from the nearby airport noise in the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration bill,” Senator Feinstein said. “I thank my colleagues for their cooperation.  And I would like to especially thank my friend, Senator Boxer, for her work to get the provision we have offered included in this important bill.”
 
The provision was drafted with the assistance of the Federal Aviation Administration, and it has the support of the Lennox and Inglewood School Districts, the Los Angeles World Airports, and the Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.   

Background

In 1980, the Lennox School District and the City of Los Angeles settled a lawsuit, allowing aircraft carrying up to 40 million people per year to fly overhead the schools.  That resulted in having aircraft fly over the schools – at extremely low levels – approximately every 3 minutes.

A settlement was reached in February 2005 between the Lennox and Inglewood school districts and the Los Angeles World Airports to provide $110 million in noise mitigation funds over 10 years.

However, the Federal Aviation Administration interpreted federal law in a way that prevents the payment of the funds under the 2005 agreement.  Thus, federal legislation is necessary to allow the use of passenger facility fees for noise reduction projects at the Lennox and Inglewood schools. 

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