Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                       RESOLUTION 13-S.F.No. 974 
 A resolution memorializing the President, Congress, 
and the Federal Aviation Administration to accelerate 
the modernization of commercial aircraft fleets 
operating in and to the United States by requiring the 
use of quieter, Stage 3 aircraft. 
    WHEREAS, five million Americans now experience a level of 
noise at home from aircraft operations that is greater than the 
maximum level identified by the Federal Aviation Administration 
as compatible with residential use; and 
    WHEREAS, this level of noise constitutes severe 
environmental pollution and an intolerable, real, and present 
reduction in human welfare, exacting a debilitating daily cost 
from individuals and families, vital human services, and whole 
neighborhoods and communities; and 
    WHEREAS, effective action by local authorities to reduce 
noise from aircraft is constrained by federal law and existing 
local land use; and 
    WHEREAS, quieter, Stage 3 aircraft are available for use, 
accomplish an 83 percent reduction in loudness as compared to 
Stage 1 aircraft, are recognized as the best available noise 
suppressing technology for the foreseeable future, and have been 
shown to be the most effective and least disruptive method of 
reducing airport noise; and 
    WHEREAS, 70 percent of the United States air carrier fleet 
still does not meet Stage 3 standards issued by the Federal 
Aviation Administration a decade ago; and 
    WHEREAS, the current federal fleet forecast indicates that 
at expected replacement rates, absent additional incentives that 
would accelerate modernization, Stage 3 aircraft will not 
constitute even half of the United States fleet for a decade, 
will not surpass 75 percent of the fleet until the turn of the 
next century, and will not replace noisier aircraft for a 
quarter century, with the result that fully three-quarters of 
the land area severely affected by aircraft noise in 1985 will 
remain so for a decade into the future, one-half for two 
decades; and 
    WHEREAS, a federal requirement to upgrade the United States 
fleet with quieter aircraft has been shown to be an effective 
and reasonable method of accelerating fleet modernization, 
inasmuch as the federal ban on Stage 1 aircraft promulgated in 
1976 has significantly affected the rate of introduction of 
quieter aircraft and reduced the resultant levels of noise 
experienced in affected areas; and 
    WHEREAS, federal projections show that a year 1995 ban on 
Stage 2 aircraft would be an effective method of accelerating 
fleet modernization and reducing airport noise, so dramatically 
advancing the introduction of Stage 3 aircraft as to effect a 
reduction in severely affected land area in 1995 from 80 percent 
of 1985 levels to 30 percent of 1985 levels, and an even greater 
reduction in the number of severely affected people; and 
    WHEREAS, an operating ban on louder Stage 2 aircraft is 
proposed and under active consideration in most western nations, 
including the European Economic Community, with the result that, 
as other governments and regions of the world limit the use of 
Stage 2 aircraft and smaller United States carriers purchase 
outmoded aircraft dumped from abroad, the flow of loud, used 
aircraft into the United States fleet is projected to increase; 
NOW, THEREFORE, 
     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
that Congress should speedily enact and the President and the 
Federal Aviation Administration speedily implement legislation 
that prohibits the addition of any Stage 2 aircraft into the 
United States fleet after January 1, 1989, and prohibits any 
Stage 2 aircraft from operating in or to the United States after 
January 1, 1995. 
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of 
Minnesota shall transmit enrolled copies of this memorial to the 
President of the United States, the President and the Secretary 
of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
United States House of Representatives and to Minnesota's 
Senators and Representatives in Congress. 
    Filed April 6, 1988