The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Record of Decision (ROD) for the proposed runway extension and terminal expansion at Tweed-New Haven Airport, partially located in neighboring East Haven.

Signed off as an official federal document on Dec. 11, the finding means the project of the Tweed- New Haven Airport Authority and airport management company AVPORTS may be implemented. The proposed $165 million expansion program includes a new terminal and runway extension.

In March 2023, the City of New Haven, through its Airport Authority, prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA). At that time, Branford grass-roots groups and others opposed to the expansion joined those in other area towns which called for a full Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the proposed expansion; rather than the EA, which was prepared by consultants for the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority.

Those opposed sought the full EIS due to concerns regarding increased air traffic impacting area community members and environments in the direct flight path. Between March and April of 2023, over 900 comment letters were received by the Airport Authority regarding the EA. Dozens of residents and area experts attended EA public hearings in East Haven to have their voices heard and share their concerns and findings.

As noted by the FAA in the Dec. 2023 report, “ This Finding of No Significant Impact (“FONSI”) and Record of Decision (“ROD”) represents the FAA’s determination that there are no significant environmental impacts associated with the FAA’s Proposed Federal Action related to the HVN Runway Extension and Terminal Expansion Program. In the EA, the Airport Authority has evaluated the environmental effects of the entire Proposed Action; however, the FAA’s Proposed Federal Action is currently limited to airport layout plan (ALP) approval of only those portions of the Proposed Action that meet the criteria established in 49 U.S.C. §47107(a)(16)(B), commonly referred to as Section 163(d) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. The FAA has concluded that certain portions (identified within this document) of the Proposed Action meet the criteria of Section 163(d), while other portions do not. Therefore, the FAA will take the Federal action of approving only those portions of the ALP that meet the Section 163(d) criteria.

By evaluating the entire Proposed Action, rather than only the Proposed Federal Action, the EA represents a conservative disclosure of environmental effects because it examines potential impacts of activities that are not part of the Federal action subject to NEPA review or special purpose law compliance. For this reason, the EA included the terminology of the Proposed Action when discussing the entirety of the development program that the airport sponsor proposes and that was evaluated in the EA. The Proposed Action includes those development components over which FAA does not have any Federal action of ALP approval.“