There are so many aspects of this process... this is an attempt at distilling it and making it accesible to everyone.

Here are some core concepts:

The National Environmental Act (NEPA) determines what can be considered in an EA (Environmental Assesment) & how an EA takes place

An EA determines if a "major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." needs to be addressed.

The EA must explain the need for the proposed project, the alternatives considered, and the environmental impacts of each alternative.

An EA can go two ways: FONSI - Finding Of No Significant Impact, this means the airport can plow away with the blessing of the feds

OR - we can try to push for an EIS. (Environmental Impact Statement) An EIS is more in depth and more thorough. In order to attain an EIS we must raise questions about the quality & quantity of the current data as well as raise all our concerns .

The EIS of 2000 showed that the changes would have too much negative impact on the community and wildlife...and we have to work together to fight them again.

Three agencies are involved in the decision making process for the 2022 Tweed EA: DEEP - Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, FAA - Federal Aviation Administration and USACOE - The US Army Core of Engineers.

The NEPA Process states that if we do not raise objections and concerns NOW we will lose the ability to file objections later.

This is why having a dedicated email to send all our letters to is a way to keep track of everything everyone has brought forward. Sending our letters to other officials makes our letters reach The Record, on multiple levels, so we can show that the intent to communicate our concerns was there. That email is in the To: section of every letter - tweedcommunityletterrecords@gmail.com this is not for communication, it's just a place to hold a copy of all your personalized letters, so we can use them as evidence if needed.