By Corinne Doud & Valinda Chan
During October, the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs for the state of Massachusetts, Rebecca Tepper, approved two very important Massport assessment reports for New England’s top two busiest airports: Boston Logan International Airport and Hanscom Field general aviation airport (not Hanscom Air Force Base). Environmental Status and Planning Reports (ESPRs) are prepared by Massport every five years and provide annual updates and long-range analysis of projected operations, passengers, and cumulative impacts of overall airport activity. Logan International Airport and Hanscom Field were both due for ESPR reports in 2022, but the multi-year process means that reports don’t receive approval or denial until years after their submission, rendering them more retroactive than planning reports. Both Logan and Hanscom are currently facing community pushback for expansion efforts.
In autumn of 2023, Logan Airport quietly opened the expansion of its international terminal, a move criticized by Logan-Area residents as a misuse of resources during a major air pollution crisis in the area. At a rally on the airport’s 100th anniversary, Chris Marchi, the long-time Vice President of the nonprofit Airport Impact Relief, Inc (AIR Inc) addressed the crowd saying, “We should not congratulate this airport while it poisons environmental justice communities. We should be avowing to change. Massachusetts needs to stop excusing environmental destruction for pet projects. When will this state’s leaders finally disown claims that we need to accept environmental sacrifices for the survival of our economy?”
Air pollution, including pollution caused by aircraft emissions, is scientifically linked to major health problems in communities where exposure is high. A Logan Airport Health study found that children in East Boston are four times more likely to exhibit signs of asthma compared with children in other areas. In addition, the study found that adults who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to have lived in areas of high exposure to pollutants for long periods of time, such as near Logan Airport. The East Boston neighborhood next to Logan is a “hotspot” for many different types of cancer, suggesting environmental causes for these illnesses.
On top of exposure to harmful pollutants, East Boston has the lowest tree canopy coverage in the city, largely because of the infrastructure built for Logan Airport. This contributes to the urban heat island effect, or hotter temperatures. East Boston near Logan experiences the urban heat island effect worse than most other neighborhoods in the region on average. Because of the increase in temperature and worsening of heatwaves caused by urban heat islands, they often lead to an increase in heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and even heart attacks in affected communities according to MIT. As a result of all of this, community members in East Boston are far more likely to fall ill as a result of living near Logan Airport.
Meanwhile, Hanscom Field is facing a proposed expansion of private jet infrastructure to benefit the ultra-wealthy. The proposed Hanscom Field expansion would allegedly clear-cut about 20 acres of mature woods. According to an independent analysis by Industrial Economics Inc, it would add approximately 6,000 additional private jet flights annually, and about 150,000 tons of carbon emissions each year – essentially to benefit a privileged few. If the expansion proceeds, private jet emissions from Hanscom alone would cancel nearly 70% of all solar PV ever installed in Massachusetts. Advocates from Boston to the Berkshires and beyond decry this expansion for fueling the climate crisis.
Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere, a coalition of over 95 organizations, is widely known for their work to halt the proposed expansion of Hanscom Field. Last fall they submitted a petition to Governor Healey urging her to halt the massive fossil fuel development, delivering over 10,000 signatures (now 14,000).
Recently, the coalition helped generate over 1,500 public comments to MEPA (Office of MA Environmental Policy Act) on the Hanscom developers’ Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) from individuals and organizations, as well as government officials. These comments were overwhelmingly in opposition to the proposed expansion, many of them arguing that the proposed development was antithetical to state and federal climate goals for 2050. In June, EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper rejected the Hanscom developers’ DEIR and instructed them to file a supplementary report that more fully and accurately reported the expected environmental and climate costs of their project.
Secretary Tepper approved the Hanscom and Logan ESPRs, respectively on October 11 and October 18, stating that each report adequately complied with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act. However, she included strong caveats with each approval.
Pointing to rising passenger levels and pollution at Logan Airport, the Secretary issued a strong directive to Massport to improve its environmental performance there. The Secretary also ordered Massport to plan additional pollution reduction strategies to address the growth of environmental impacts if passenger or flights outpace forecasts. This idea answers community requests for Massport to stop using inaccurate planning forecasts. She also asked Massport to address the health, air quality, and community impacts of Logan’s operations, and required that the Port Authority create a working group with the community to identify ways to reduce Logan’s public health impacts, develop air quality monitoring and pollution reduction programs, form partnerships to distribute air filters, create an idling reduction plan, and simplify and improve the pollution reporting process.
Logan Community Clean Air Coalition members are cautiously optimistic about this certificate. Chris Marchi said, “We are eager to work with the Secretary’s staff to help Massport implement the full slate of the Secretary’s requirements.”
Approved just a week before the Logan report, the Hanscom Field report came with a requirement: a supplemental ESPR, to be filed before the 2027 ESPR report is due. According to the Secretary’s certificate, this supplemental ESPR must include, “updated forecasts of aviation activity and associated air quality and noise impacts which take into account the proposed design of North Airfield Development project (EEA# 16654), which is currently under MEPA review. The Supplemental ESPR should also provide additional data on the energy use of terminals, hangars, and other buildings at Hanscom Field. As noted below, future ESPRs should also expand on environmental justice and public health outreach and analysis, and consider Massport’s obligation under MEPA to avoid or minimize, and, where appropriate, to mitigate, environmental impacts, and, under recently promulgated rules and regulations, to consider environmental justice principles through MEPA reviews.”
What does this mean? It means that both the prospective Hanscom developers and Massport itself are now required by the EEA Secretary to provide substantial additional information, in the instance of the Hanscom developers, they will need to produce a Supplemental DEIR report for their proposed expansion. Separately Massport must submit both a Supplemental ESPR report for Hanscom and do extensive supplemental work for the Logan ESPR. These directives are considered interim wins by climate and public health activists who are working to rein in and mitigate the harms of Massport’s Logan and Hanscom expansions.
Public efforts to hold Massport accountable to the myriad environmental and health costs, and climate impacts, of its operations is a classic David and Goliath tale, where the public stands against forces that threaten their future. As climate and clean-air activists across the state await the passage of a comprehensive Climate Bill at the State House, MEPA’s response to Massport’s ESPR reports provides another slingshot to carry into the ring.
Valinda Chan is Team Co-Coordinator and Corinne Doud is Leader of the Bedford Chapter Campaign to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere.
Corinne Doud of Mothers Out Front Bedford and Valinda Chan of Mothers Out Front East Boston. Mothers Out Front is a national organization of mothers and others working toward a livable climate and an equitable future for all children.