Project '99 Newsletter, June 1998

A Plan of Action to Protect and Improve Our Community
A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project 99

Dear Neighbor,

Almost daily we hear the proponents of El Toro International Airport say, “The airport controversy is simply a battle between North County and South County. And the more populous North County will surely win.”

Nonsense!

While South County communities overwhelmingly oppose an El Toro International Airport, residents in central and northern Orange County are now turning against the airport in growing numbers. Two very good reasons account for this dramatic shift in public opinion.

* First, County officials are being forced to disclose the ugly realities of their airport proposal. In addition to the around-the-clock landings and takeoffs that will blanket South County with noise and air pollution, the County’s airport plans provide that 30% of all takeoffs — as many as 200 per day, including dozens in the middle of the night — will be to the north over parts of Irvine, Tustin, Villa Park, Orange and Fullerton. And North County residents are just now learning that these big and noisy air cargo and international flights will be over residential communities at remarkably low altitudes. (See adjacent story.)

* Second, a superior non-aviation reuse plan is attracting major North County support. The Times Orange County poll, published May 24th, showed that 56% of voters countywide (including a majority in North County) favor the non-aviation Millennium Plan; only 38% support the County’s airport plan. These latest results prove the wisdom of our Project 99 strategy for El Toro: Create a real side-by-side choice for Orange County citizens. Once that happens, residents in North County and South County alike will reject an airport at El Toro in favor of the environmentally and economically superior Millennium Plan. Our strategy is working. We just have to keep at it. Thanks for your continuing support!

We’re In This Together
Low-Altitude Overflights Shatter Myth of “North vs South”

For several years now, Orange County officials have relied on a carefully fabricated myth known as “North County vs. South County.” The pro-airport myth goes something like this: Environmental damage from the proposed El Toro International Airport will be confined to South County communities. That’s why a few grumpy South County residents oppose the airport but North County residents think it’s just dandy.

The myth of “North County vs. South County” was shattered once and for all this Spring when County officials reluctantly acknowledged an ear-piercing, house-shaking reality. Every day hundreds of commercial jets will take off from El Toro and fly directly over North County. According to County documents, they’ll take off on Runway 34 to the north, climbing at a rate of about 300 feet per ground mile. This means airliners will fly at very low altitudes, ranging from 1000 feet to 3000 feet, as they ascend over Irvine, Tustin, Villa Park, Orange, and Fullerton.

Worse yet, takeoffs to the north will be around-the-clock and will include middle-of-the-night cargo flights. (The County’s so-called “mid-sized” international airport plan — known as Alternative C — includes 10 flights between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.) North County residents are also learning that because Runway 34 — with its northerly takeoffs — is the longest at El Toro, it will be reserved for bigger, noisier aircraft, including long-haul inter-national flights.

Even as a 3-to-2 majority of Supervisors and other County officials scramble to win support for a scaled-down “mid-sized” airport, they are forced to admit to still more disturbing realities. Their “preferred” plan, Alternative C, would keep John Wayne Airport open as part of a two-airport system; El Toro International Airport would be built to accommodate an estimated 24 million passengers annually. That would make El Toro about half the size of today’s LAX, with a projected 492 takeoffs and landings in every 24-hour period. But unlike LAX, El Toro is landlocked. This means that there is no Pacific Ocean to absorb the noise and air pollution from takeoffs. Instead, hundreds of thousands of residents in North County and South County alike will pay the price with a badly diminished quality of life.

North County residents are further disturbed upon learning that the Supervisors’ earlier promises of nighttime curfews at El Toro have evaporated under the glaring reality of federal law. The 1990 Federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act effectively prohibits local imposition of nighttime curfews at major new airports.

County officials are trying to head off the growing North County opposition to El Toro by gambling on the possibility of a straight northerly takeoff from Runway 34, directly over the Santa Ana Mountain Range’s Loma Ridge. But aviation experts dismiss this as a dangerous fantasy, with potentially tragic consequences. According to Todd Thornton, a pilot for a major commercial airline and an advisor to Project 99, “The Loma Ridge rises to well over 1,000 feet just a few miles from the end of the runway. A straight northerly takeoff leaves no room to recover in the event of mechanical failure or pilot error.” Thornton continued, “In fact, that’s what happened on June 25, 1965, when a Boeing 707 military transport crashed into the Loma Ridge, killing all 84 aboard. It was Orange County’s worst air tragedy ever.” (The military no longer permits transports to take off over the Loma Ridge.)

Ed Pope, Project 99’s Director of Outreach, summed up the meaning of recent developments. “The myth of North vs. South has been exploded. Orange County residents are uniting as never before. It’s now clear that El Toro International Airport threatens us all — North County and South County alike.” Pope added, “We are uniting not just to defeat this dangerous airport plan, but to win approval of the Millennium Plan — the non-aviation reuse plan that will bring to El Toro and all of Orange County a cornucopia of benefits: high-tech jobs, income, cultural and educational facilities, and a great metropolitan park similar to San Diego’s Balboa Park.”

Project ’99 Newsletter Director of Communications, Karen Byers Director of Media, Alan Ellstrand

Project ’99 • PO Box 252 • Irvine CA 92650 • Phone (714) 559-5423

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