Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Bellevue City Council: Airport causes cancer, safety risks. Opposition strong at council meeting. Friedman Memorial Airport (KSUN), Hailey, Idaho.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/SUN
Friedman Memorial Airport cannot and will not close in the foreseeable future, said airport officials at a joint meeting of the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority and the Bellevue City Council last night.

"Closing the airport is not an option," said airport manager Rick Baird. However, he warned, if the community chose not to make any improvements at the existing site, the valley could lose all commercial air service. Losing commercial service would also mean losing the air traffic control tower funded for commercial use, meaning general aviation pilots would be at a greater safety risk.

"All you have to do is watch the air traffic when Allen and Co. is here, and you understand the value of the tower," Baird said.

But few Bellevue residents were convinced that expanding the airport or shifting Friedman's runway 1500 feet to the south was the best option for all concerned. Chantrelle homeowner Darsi Cordingley quoted an article from the New England Journal of Medicine stating that those who live within six miles of an airport are more likely to develop cancer.

"I have worked with the Blaine County Schools for 20 years," she said. "I have worked with children who are fighting leukemia, and I have watched them die."

Bellevue council member Dave Hattula said the potential for accidents would skyrocket with an airport expansion at the current site.

"We have been very lucky that a major accident has not occurred," he said. "If some major accident occurs, it's going to be someone we know, a family member or otherwise."

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