Good point, Ron. Noise is essentially a "zero-sum" game. However, significant relief for Somerville (say, reducing 33L takeoffs as a share of Logan's total T/Os from 18% to, say, 10 or 12%) would in all probability still leave the big winners under the current scheme well below the levels of noise they used to encounter. The problem is that the changes wrought by the adoption of the new runway usage have produced BIG winners Dorchester, JP and points south) and BIG losers (Somerville, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Arlington) -- which is not only unfair, but also expressly forbidden by the terms of the 2004 settlement that cleared the way for construction of Runway 14/32. Unfortunately, Judge Neel didn't see it that way.
Margot Botsford, the judge who originally tried the case and wrote the original settlement, was elevated by Governor Patrick to the SJC in 2007. It's a great appointment, but she's no longer available to interpret her own ruling. More's the pity.