Determine the Author's Argument

Read the following passage about opposition to expanding an airport. Try to identify the claim and reasons the author uses to build the argument. 

The Cedar Rapids Airport has requested approval to build a new runway. The communities surrounding the airport should strongly protest this proposed expansion in order to avoid increased noise pollution, traffic congestion, and environmental danger to area wetlands.

The noise pollution is a constant problem for neighborhoods near the airport. Most days people can’t hold conversations on the street or in their own backyard. A new runway will only add volume to airport noise.

A new runway also means more traffic jams on local streets. Our streets are already crowded. Additional flights into and out of the airport will create rush hour all day long.

Finally, these increases in noise and traffic will interfere with the bird populations that depend on the area wetlands during their annual migrations. The local birding society stated that disrupting migration has a negative effect on the health of the flocks. Because whooping cranes, an endangered species, are one of these bird populations, it’s obvious that we cannot allow the airport to expand.