After another summer of record-shattering global heat waves, it’s time for Massport to pull the plug on a proposed expansion of private jet hangar space at Hanscom Field Airport.
Expanding private jet services during a climate emergency is indefensible and irresponsible. Massport, the public authority that owns and operates Hanscom North Airfield in Bedford, Worcester Airport, and Boston Logan Airport, should side with the present and future residents of the Commonwealth and cancel this irresponsible and unnecessary project.
Private jet travel is the most carbon-intensive form of travel there is, polluting 10 to 20 times more per passenger than commercial travel, typically to serve passengers who are multimillionaires or billionaires. More than half of all Hanscom flights go to luxury and recreation destinations, including Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Aspen, Jackson Hole, and West Palm Beach. Meanwhile, we have just lived through what NASA has declared as the hottest recorded summer on planet Earth, the result of human-driven climate change.
Yet two private developers, Runway Realty Ventures LLC and North Airfield Ventures LLC, are working with Massport on a plan to greatly increase the private jet hangar space at Hanscom Field — which is already the busiest private jet port in New England.
In March, developers submitted an environmental impact report for the Hanscom Field expansion to the Commonwealth that was chock full of fantastic and shoddy projections. The team declared their hangar expansion would not increase private jet operations at Hanscom and that it would reduce emissions. Independent research conducted by Industrial Economics Inc. found the opposite: The Hanscom expansion would add approximately 6,000 private jet flights a year, adding around 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually over current levels.
In June, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA) determined that the project developers’ Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) “did not adequately or properly comply with regulations.” According to Massachusetts Environmental Secretary Rebecca Tepper, if the developers choose to move forward with the expansion, they must submit a Supplemental DEIR to fill in the large information gaps in their DEIR. In addition, Tepper has required the developers to respond to the Industrial Economics study.
Meanwhile, resistance to the project is growing.
Last fall, Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere, a coalition of over 90 organizations statewide, submitted a petition to Governor Maura Healey urging her to halt the project, with over 13,500 signatures. Then, during the public comment period in May, over 1,500 public comments were submitted to MEPA from national, state, and local organizations and individuals, as well as from federal, state, and local government officials and agencies. These comments were overwhelmingly in opposition to the proposed expansion, citing climate, environmental, and financial destruction, among other reasons.
In May, because of the threat of the proposed private jet expansion, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated Minute Man National Historical Park, Walden Pond, and nearby landmarks as among America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, thereby bringing national attention to these ill-conceived plans. The expansion is expected to significantly increase private jet traffic, leading to increased noise, vehicular traffic, and negative environmental and climate impacts around these historic places.
The private jet expansion at Hanscom is a direct and immediate threat to Massachusetts efforts to combat climate change. If the proposed expansion goes forward, private jet emissions from Hanscom alone could cancel up to 70% of the climate benefits from all the solar capacity installed in Massachusetts — while using taxpayer dollars to provide the ultra-wealthy with more options for private jet travel.
Massport operates under the same charter established during its founding in 1956, with a mission rooted in a 1950s mindset of unlimited aviation growth. But Massport should not be given a free pass to ignore the harmful climate impacts of this proposed project, which would affect everyone in Massachusetts and is inconsistent with state climate policy.
In the age of climate change, Massachusetts lawmakers are pressing to update Massport’s charter to bring it in line with current policies and climate goals of the Commonwealth. In this past legislative session, a provision to update Massport’s charter was introduced by the Senate and gathered 41 co-sponsors in the House representing 94 cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
The private jet lobby is powerful, representing the most influential and wealthiest residents of the Commonwealth. They’ll claim they’re developing alternative jet fuels and otherwise try to greenwash their luxury travel, but a comprehensive study this year found that there’s no realistic alternative fuel or techno fix to reducing private jet emissions.
Expanding private jet operations during a climate emergency is irresponsible, indefensible, and unjustifiable. It would produce even further setbacks for our state, climate, and national landmarks. This expansion must be stopped.
Chuck Collins directs the Program on Inequality and co-edits Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies. He’s the lead author of several IPS reports on private jet travel, including “Hanscom High Flyers: Private Jet Excess Doesn’t Justify Airport Expansion.”
Corinne Doud leads the Mothers Out Front Bedford Chapter of the Campaign to Stop Private Jet Expansion. She’s a Climate Reality Project Leader (Boston Metro Chapter) and co-chairs the Environmental Justice Committee of First Parish in Bedford.
