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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The O'Hare Modernization Program, approved in
32003, has generated serious noise issues that affect the
4quality of life and health of a significant number of household
5residents living adjacent to the airport, especially persons
6who live directly east and west of the new parallel runways
7that now carry most of O'Hare's jet airplane traffic; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
9federal agency that regulates all aspects of United States
10commercial flight, granted permission to the City of Chicago
11and O'Hare airport to carry out its current expansion, and its
12permission was based on: (a) noise projections generated prior
13to approval of the modernization plan, and (b) ongoing
14monitoring of O'Hare airport noise through the use of
15noise-monitoring technology that was adequate for that purpose
16based upon 1990s standards; and
 
17    WHEREAS, During the years since the Illinois General
18Assembly approved the O'Hare Modernization Program in 2003, the
19City of Chicago has carried out noise monitoring in cooperation
20with the FAA based upon the technological standards and
21practices that were in place at the start of the modernization
22program; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The "noise contour maps" generated by City of
2Chicago/FAA data are public documents that are used to measure
3the impact of O'Hare noise on its neighbors and, in some cases,
4to allocate soundproofing aid to owners of residential,
5educational, commercial, and industrial properties, if they
6are located within the "contours" of noise impact measured by
7O'Hare Modernization Program noise impact collection data; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Many of the constituents of the co-sponsors of
9this resolution do not live within these Modernization Program
10noise contours, but tell us that they are severely and
11negatively affected by O'Hare Airport noise; and
 
12    WHEREAS, New technologies, distributed and made available
13since 2003, have created a new standard, the "Community Noise
14Equivalent Level" or CNEL for short, which has significantly
15changed and improved the way that technology can measure the
16impact of airplane noise on human quality of life; and
 
17    WHEREAS, In response to Illinois constituent concerns, the
18General Assembly, in the spring of 2015, enacted P.A. 99-202,
19amending the Permanent Noise Monitoring Act to mandate the use,
20going forward, of Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL)
21technologies and noise measurement data in the monitoring of
22noise in and around O'Hare Airport; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we commend the
3generation of new CNEL data as a way for the communities around
4O'Hare International Airport to better understand the impact of
5airport noise on their communities and quality of life; and be
6it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That we commend the City of Chicago for
8supporting P.A. 99-202 and call upon it to continue to take
9steps to implement the law and generate the data mandated by
10this Public Act; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That we call upon the Federal Aviation
12Administration to assist the City of Chicago in the
13implementation of P.A. 99-202, including the siting,
14re-siting, and re-equipping of noise monitoring stations, and
15the generation and publication of data generated by these
16stations in conformity with CNEL professional standards; and be
17it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That we re-affirm that the noise contour maps
19that cover areas surrounding O'Hare Airport, and describe the
20impacts of noise upon these communities, should be based upon
21the best and newest possible data and technology; and be it
22further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That we call upon the FAA to use new CNEL data to
2revisit the existing noise contour maps that cover areas
3surrounding O'Hare Airport, and to promptly redraw these maps
4as new airport noise data is submitted; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
6submitted to the Director of the Federal Aviation
7Administration and to the Mayor of the City of Chicago.