Council of States opposes new limit value for morning aircraft noise
Published: Wednesday, Dec 6th 2023, 11:30
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The Council of States does not want a new limit value for morning aircraft noise in the Noise Abatement Ordinance. This was decided on Wednesday as part of a debate on the revision of the Environmental Protection Act.
A left-green minority of the Council of States' Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (Urek-S) requested that a new specific limit value for the period from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. be included in the Noise Abatement Ordinance for noise emitted by air traffic.
An annex to this ordinance currently contains exposure limits for the day and for the periods between 10 and 11 pm, 11 and midnight and 5 and 6 am, but not for 6 to 7 am. The small chamber rejected this proposal by 31 votes to 11.
It thus followed the arguments of committee spokesperson Daniel Fässler (center/AI), according to which this new limit would restrict air traffic at Swiss airports "even more". Federal Councillor Albert Rösti also said that a yes vote on this motion would not be in line with the aim of the legislative revision.
The aim of these is to enable the inner densification of settlements. In addition, his Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications is currently reviewing these limits. This review should not be prejudged. It makes sense to leave the Federal Council the authority to set the noise limits in the ordinance based on the latest scientific findings.
Conditions for building in noise zones
The Federal Council is pursuing two main objectives with the revision of the Environmental Protection Act: it wants to better reconcile settlement development with noise protection and boost the remediation of contaminated sites - especially in the case of children's playgrounds. Playgrounds in particular could be contaminated by previous fertilization of the soil and air pollution.
The approval of the bill was undisputed in the Council of States. However, the small chamber then interrupted the detailed discussion of the bill due to the celebrations of the new President of the Council of States and the new President of the National Council. The discussion will continue on Thursday.
Commission spokesperson Fässler said in the introductory debate that the intended internal development of settlement areas in accordance with the bill should make it easier to build housing. Federal Councillor Rösti said that 25 years after the creation of the Contaminated Sites Fund, the remediation of contaminated sites should be accelerated.
Mathilde Crevoisier Crelier, SP member of the Council of States for the Jura, said that one million people in Switzerland suffer from noise, 90 percent of them in cities. Noise can make people ill. It is therefore important to find a balance between inner densification and noise protection.
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