Notes
Formal public comment filed 2026-05-28 by Jeffrey Bogen, Des Moines resident, on the Seattle-Area Metroplex (SAMP) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), challenging the No Significant Impact (NSI) finding on health effects of aviation noise. Bogen argues the SAMP EIS and ME Eagan Consulting report omit key peer-reviewed studies including the WHO Systematic Review Update (2022) on transportation noise and sleep disturbance, a 2025 JACC cardiac MRI study linking aircraft noise to left ventricular hypertrophy and reduced systolic function, and the HYENA Project (2008) on aircraft noise, hypertension, heart disease, and stroke near airports. The comment criticizes the SAMP EIS reliance on FICAN noise-exposure curves as methodologically flawed (per J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2013, Nov;134(5):3645–53), particularly extrapolated SEL 100 dB awakening probability data, and argues that cumulative health effects of aviation noise, traffic, air pollution, and socioeconomic stressors near DNL 65 contours — where SEL values routinely exceed 90 dBA — constitute a significant health impact requiring additional noise mitigation.