FAA Denies Rumor Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell Quits

By Karen Di Piazza

After receiving e-mail this afternoon that credited activist group Quiet Rockland, for scooping news that acting Federal Aviation Administrator Robert A. Sturgell had quit, that raised an eyebrow, and a call to the Federal Aviation Administration. The e-mail is allegedly from John J. Tormey III, attorney and cofounder of Quiet Rockland, a group established on Sept. 12, 2007, first aiming to squash the FAA's airspace redesign over New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia's airspace. Quiet Rockland is comprised of Rockland County, New York residents; they're anything but quiet.

Quiet Rockland hosts several Internet sites, including one that's focused to "remove Sturgell." Tormey's bio and contact information is sourced on all sites we located; however, we were unable to verify before going to press if today's e-mail was from Tormey. According to the e-mail and Internet sites, a "reliable source," said Sturgell would leave the FAA "by or in November 2008" and Ruth Leverenz, FAA assistant administrator for regions and center operations, would take his place. After reading what the e-mail said, FAA spokesperson Marcia Adams quickly returned CharterX Industry Headline News' call this evening, saying, "This is absolutely not true." Adams didn't have further comment on Quiet Rockland nor its cofounder, except to say she'd never heard of either name.

The activist group vows to continue blasting the FAA until it permanently scraps its airspace redesign, along with helping to "cause the lawful ejection" of Sturgell, "help cause" the FAA to "accord fair treatment to the air traffic controllers and take available "measures to help restore safety to our skies and aircraft."

*** [Appendage: Today (July 21), attorney John J. Tormey III confirmed that he's the author of the e-mail mentioned in this article. Further, he said although the FAA denied that Sturgell had given notice to leave the agency, he stands by his story 100 percent. Ed.]

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