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The federal government approved plans to expand Trenton-Mercer Airport, rejecting protests from opponents who say the project will worsen jet noise and hurt quality of life for nearby residents.

The Federal Aviation Administration last week issued a “finding of no significant impact” for the plan by the airport’s owner, Mercer County, to replace a 1970s-era terminal with a larger one it says is better suited to current air-travel demands.

The terminal’s area is due to expand to 125,000 square feet, or five times its current size, and there would be improved baggage handling, new security checkpoint and added food outlets and waiting areas, as well as new taxiways for aircraft.

But there are no plans for new or longer runways or plans to expand the overall size of the airport, the county said, following critics’ claims that the terminal improvement is a Trojan Horse for a much bigger expansion in future.

“This is great news for Trenton-Mercer Airport and the many thousands of travelers who pass through our passenger facility,” said County Executive Brian Hughes, in a press release.

Overcrowded terminal?

Hughes said the current terminal is about one-third the size it should be for the number of travelers using it, and that the airport anticipates further growth as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes.

Regardless of a new terminal, the airport’s master plan anticipates an increase of about 36 takeoffs and landings a day between 2020 and 2035 among the commercial, private and military aircraft using the airport, bringing the daily total to 261 by the end of the period. Within the total, commercial flights are expected to increase by six a day to 34.

Critics say adding taxiways under the expansion plan would almost double the airport’s capacity and increase flights beyond official projections. If that happened, it would increase noise, worsen air quality and erode the quality of life for nearby residents, including environmental justice communities in nearby Trenton and other parts of Mercer County.

Opponents have also warned that construction at the airport may disturb toxic “forever chemicals” present beneath a former military base, now a federal Superfund site that adjoins the airport. They say the contamination threatens to spread into nearby creeks or the Delaware River about two miles away.

Fears that the PFAS chemicals may have already migrated beyond the shuttered base arose earlier this month when the Department of Environmental Protection said it found the chemicals at above state health limits in dozens of private water wells in nearby Pennington. The DEP said it had not identified the source of the contamination.

Opponents slam the decision

Opponents of the expansion plan condemned the FAA’s decision.

“We are disappointed and deeply concerned that the FAA is actively supporting the airport’s false narrative that this is not a major expansion of the airport’s capacity,” said Judith Hoechner of the opposition group Trenton Threatened Skies. “By deceitfully calling this a replacement and modernization, the airport is not admitting their true intentions of expansion and therefore skirting the proper environmental reviews.

“The anticipated huge increase in flight operations will have a major detrimental impact on the environment and they have refused to acknowledge, investigate, and mitigate these consequences,” Hoechner said in a statement.

Reports that the FAA recently met with airport officials for five days raised critics’ hopes that the agency was objecting to the county’s justifications for the expansion plan. Those reports prompted speculation that the FAA’s decision would be delayed, but it now looks as if the meeting was only “putting lipstick on a pig,” Hoechner said.

The FAA said it found that the airport plan would not violate environmental rules under the National Economic Policy Act. “It is the determination of the FAA that, with respect to the proposed action, the requirements of NEPA and all other applicable federal environmental requirements and executive orders have been met,” the agency said in a 35-page record of decision based on a formal assessment of the project’s environmental impact.

The agency agreed with the airport authorities that a bigger terminal is needed to accommodate an expected increase in passengers.

Getting ready for growth

“Accommodating the forecasted growth within the current terminal will continue to degrade the level of service afforded by the terminal and continue to reduce the overall passenger experience, further demonstrating the need for a new terminal facility,” the FAA said.

U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat whose 12th District includes Trenton, said the FAA had done the right thing in approving the airport expansion.

“This modernization project will enable Trenton to keep pace with other transportation hubs in the region currently being upgraded,” she said in a statement. “The jobs created by this project, combined with the existing financial contribution the airport currently provides, will further assist us in our recovery as we emerge from the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican whose district abuts the Delaware River near the airport, has said the airport project would cause “substantial damage” and has called for a more thorough environmental impact statement to be conducted on the project’s effects.