Over My Head

Debi Wagner

Jan 2011 · Trafford Publishing

About this ebook

Through a terrifying experience, I became involved in a fight against a local airport expansion. What I learned about jet emissions caused me great alarm and pushed me deep into a battle with nearly every agency in my state. These local issues turned into national and international aviation watch organizations working to unravel what appears to me to be a cover-up by the industry. The outcome of many of these battles, some of which turned into major discovery processes is disturbing.

About the author

I was twice elected president of the local grassroots organization Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (CASE) fighting expansion of Seattle Tacoma International Airport in 1995, 1996. I worked as administrative director for the umbrella organization Regional Commission on Airport Affairs, (RCAA) a politically funded organization in 1997. I amassed a large amount of technical information on aviation emissions and worked closely with the Region X EPA, State of Washington Department of Ecology and a number of other agencies and organizations. My work on the airport Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and air quality reviews caused a re-write of the document, the first ever for the Federal Aviation Administration. I uncovered a great deal of alarming information on cancer risks for people living near airports. I worked with the community group during a discovery process where our state Department of Public Health found significantly higher than normal rates of brain and lung cancer, higher death rate from disease, lower life expectancy, etc. I have networked this information worldwide and am currently a founding board member of a national Aviation Watch Association US-CAW based in New York.

In the beginning I was just a mom who was concerned about my family and finding myself living in a new flight path created to reduce noise for some while concentrating all outbound aircraft traffic over my head.