T.F. Green Airport Improvement Program - FEIS Chapters - PVD

T.F. Green Airport Improvement ProgramEnvironmental Impact Statement and Final Section 4(f) EvaluationChanges in noise and land use would have the potential to affect residential areas that include minority,Hispanic, or low-income populations. In order to accommodate the Alternatives B2 and B4, off-Airportresidential properties would be acquired and the residents or land uses would be relocated. Land acquisitionwould occur under both Alternative B2 and B4. FAA Order 1050.1E and 14 CFR Part 150 define the threshold ofsignificance for noise impacts (increase of at least DNL 1.5 dB at or above DNL 65 dB) to a noise-sensitiveresource when compared to the No-Action Alternative. Significant noise impacts would occur underAlternatives B2 and B4 and those residences and non-residential noise-sensitive sites (e.g., places of worship)would be eligible for sound insulation mitigation if they were not previously sound insulated.The U.S. Census Bureau collects separate data on Hispanic populations in addition to data on minoritypopulations because the concept of race is separate from the concept of Hispanic origin. The Bureau directsusers of the Census data to avoid combining race categories with Hispanic (a person could identify themselvesas both Hispanic and Black, Asian, or other race categories). Therefore, this analysis addresses minority andHispanic populations separately and the Hispanic population was not added to the total minority population toavoid the possibility of double counting.Impact MethodologyThe following methodologies were used to determine if the Alternatives B2 and B4 would result indisproportionately high and adverse impacts to minority, Hispanic, or low-income populations and to identifyany health and safety impacts to children.Determination of Significant ImpactsResults of the environmental consequences studies determine if significant impacts would occur underAlternatives B2 and B4. Determinations of significant effect were made in accordance with FAA Order 1050.1E,or other relevant federal or state regulations. The significant impacts were then evaluated for their potentialeffects to environmental justice populations.Identify Environmental Justice PopulationsMinority, Hispanic, and low-income populations were identified as described in Chapter 4, Affected Environmentand shown on Figure 4-13. The environmental justice analysis identifies the direct, physical impacts tosurrounding land uses and indirect effects of the Project, such as increased noise to noise-sensitive land uses.Also, a boundary of “maximum area of acquisition”, which includes proposed areas of land acquisition wasused to more specifically identify environmental justice impacts.Determine if Significant Impacts Disproportionately Affect Environmental Justice PopulationsEnvironmental justice is not an impact category standing alone. First, it must be determined if impacts in otherimpacts categories are significant or adverse (e.g., noise), and, if so, it is determined whether such impacts maybe felt disproportionately by minority or low-income communities. Since environmental justice considerationsdepend on the potential for significant impacts in other environmental categories, the area of analysis forenvironmental justice is the area of potential significant impacts for the other environmental impact categories.Census blocks or census block groups within the area of potential significant impacts were evaluated to identifyany with an environmental justice population above statewide averages. Analysis was then conducted toChapter 5 - Environmental Consequences 5-84 July 2011\\mawatr\ev\09228.00\reports\FEIS_Final_July_2011\PVD_CH05_Environmental_Cons_JUL_2011.doc