Letters

I was surprised to read in your recent editorial that you believe “closing the airport would be an extreme position,” given “the political interests” [“Balancing Act,” Editorial, April 1]?

The 600 acres that currently makes up the East Hampton Airport is a public good that has been misused for far too long. It benefits fewer than 1 percent of the local residents and causes noise (16,000 complaints in 2019), air and potentially water pollution not just for those in East Hampton but for almost all on the South Fork. Its economic benefits have been grossly exaggerated by a recent pilots’ association analysis and account for perhaps 1 percent of the local economy and roughly 20 full-time jobs.

The airport unfortunately is a very large gas station that pumps 400,000 gallons of fuel a year, while also serving as an industrial maintenance facility that uses many toxic solvents — that sits atop one of the main aquifers in our area. Even one of the Town Board members said recently that it is the last place to put an airport if such a decision were being made today.

Fortunately, after over a decade of complaints as the volume of air traffic has doubled, it will be possible to fix this situation in the near future. Even if one ignores the many environmental problems created by the airport, it should be closed for purely economic reasons — it cannot generate any revenue for the town if it is leased to the Federal Aviation Administration.

If closed, it might generate $300,000 to $400,000 annually in lease income for a potential solar farm that would seem to make sense for a town that pledged to become 100 percent renewable by the end of this decade. It also would probably save the town $10 million in future land purchases for its affordable housing program.

Both these projects might only take up 25 percent of the already cleared 200 acres available, leaving the majority for parks and other potential beneficial uses.

Given these facts, I would assume any politician who didn’t want to close the airport would be doing their constituents a disservice.

Brad Brooks

East Hampton