Massport is Building A Carbon Bomb!
Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere!
Who Pays for the Convenience of Billionaires? We Do!
Massachusetts has made important strides in confronting the climate crisis, and is poised to make more thanks to the Climate Roadmap legislation.
But all of that progress will go up in smoke (literally) if the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) has its way! Massport (an independent entity accountable only to the Governor) is planning a massive expansion of private jet capacity at Hanscom Field, building 27 new hangars for parking private jets and tripling capacity of the field.
It doesn’t take much research to figure out why this is a bad idea – as pointed out by the Boston Globe and on WBUR, private jets emit about ten times more carbon per mile traveled than commercial aviation, and on shorter hauls that number is even higher: Flights on private jets from New York to Washington, D.C., are responsible for about 45 times the emissions per passenger as commercial planes flying the same route, and more than 1,100 times the emissions per passenger as train travel to those cities.
In our wretchedly unequal society, the number of these flights is growing rapidly, up 11 percent last year. And despite the common assumption that all this travel is important business leaders flying to important business meetings, the majority of flights are to luxury tourist destinations, with Valentine’s Day trips to the Paris the most common.
Massport’s Carbon Bomb is a direct and immediate threat to the commonwealth’s efforts to combat climate change. The expanded jet travel will potentially negate a decade’s worth of progress made by the expansion of rooftop solar in the state.
And while these emissions would threaten people, plants, and animals globally, locally the proposed expansion would directly destroy trees, wetlands, and endangered species. Local brooks and rivers would be subject to intense toxic runoff from such jet activities as deicing, fuel spills, and chemical fire-suppression. Well over 20 acres would be deforested and 28 acres forever paved.
Here’s how you can help:
Sign this petition, Tell the Governor: No Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom – or Anywhere!
Attend a June 21st Webinar (@ 5pm) with Bill McKibben, Kannan Thiruvengadam, & Neil Rasmussen to learn more about “…this Zombie project from the fossil fuel era.” RSVP here.
Visit the coalition website (https://www.stopprivatejetexpansion.org/) to learn more and share it with friends, family, co-workers and on social media.
And who ho pays the price for all of this luxury convenience for the billionaires and the corporate and political elites? You, and all the rest of us do. Not only do the emissions directly worsen the climate crisis, the owners get huge tax breaks, avoiding sales and property taxes. It’s time to stop the giveaways that are making the planet unliveable
Sign this petition, tell the Governor: No Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom – or Anywhere!
When We Organize We Win!
ORMA Climate Crisis Working Group (climate@ourrevolutionma.com)