For Immediate Release
August 8, 1997
Contact: Arlene Salac/Jim Peters
Phone: (718) 553-3010
NEW YORK — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) that would serve John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
The draft statement is an analysis of the environmental effects that may result from the installation of the weather radar at the site preferred by the FAA and recommends measures that would reduce or eliminate these effects at that site. The Draft EIS also looks at two other alternative locations, and provides an analysis of two alternative technologies . It includes the no action alternative for comparative purposes.
The FAA preferred site is at the United States Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn; the two other sites are Hart Island and a site in lower New York Bay. The technologies that have been analyzed are on- aircraft wind shear systems and Airport Surveillance Radar/Weather System Processor (ASR/WSP).
The proposed Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) that would serve Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports would be among the last remaining units to be installed by the FAA. There are 42 such radar units currently in operation or under construction in the United States.
TDWR is an automated radar system that provides to air traffic controllers detailed real time information on severe weather. TDWR allows air traffic controllers to direct pilots to take appropriate actions during encounters with severe weather that can substantially reduce the risk to aircraft. The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar would be installed at the U.S.Coast Guard Air Station, following its expected closing sometime in 1998.
Public hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement will be held at the following locations:
[To be determined]