Bob Hope, Reno-Stead, Dallas/Fort Worth and Toronto airports win environmental achievement awards
Burbank Bob Hope Airport
Tue 25 Aug 2009 – Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) has selected Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, Reno-Stead Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport as the four winners of its 2009 Environmental Achievement Awards. The four award categories covered environmental management; outreach, education and community involvement; mitigation; and a newly-added award for special/innovative projects. Now in their 12th year, the awards have been the springboard for numerous environmental programmes at airports, says ACI-NA.
“Airports have many innovative programmes designed to address the environmental impact of their operations,” said Greg Principato, ACI-NA President. “Their interest and participation in ACI-NA’s Environmental Achievement Awards programme is evidence that airports are making considerable strides in mitigating impacts to the natural environment and local communities.”
The four categories and winners are:
Environmental Management Award Category:
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, won the award for its Hangar 25, the world’s first aviation facility certified Platinum by the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) programme. The 62,000-square-foot facility was constructed to house private aircraft ranging in size from small corporate jets to the Boeing 757-200, as well as their maintenance crews and staff. The motivation behind Hangar 25 came from the desire to offset the aircraft carbon emissions by using renewable solar energy to power the facility and its ground operations.
Outreach, Education, and Community Involvement Award Category: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport earned this year’s award with its Protect our Planet Science Festival and DFW Airport Earth Day. More than 100 students participated in the festival where they were exposed to a variety of environmental learning stations and had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. On Earth Day, the airport continued to promote public outreach efforts by inviting employees, contractors and tenants to the DFW Airport Earth Day event. Participants learned about the progress being taken at DFW Airport and around the country to protect natural resources.
Mitigation Award Category:
Reno-Stead Airport’s Stead Solvent Site Remedial Action programme earned the 2009 award. Under the guidance of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the remediation activities and environmental clean-up of the Stead Solvent Site utilize state-of-the-art equipment to remove trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination from the groundwater and soil at the airport. Since the remedial action start-up, more that 35.3 million gallons (133.6m litres) of groundwater have been extracted and treated, and more than 114 pounds (51.8kg) of TCE have been removed from the site.
Special/Innovative Projects Award Category: Toronto Pearson International Airport is the first airport to win this newly-added award category for its Partners in Project Green & Pearson Eco-Business Zone programme. Launched in October 2008, Partners in Project Green is a growing community of businesses working together to improve their financial and environmental performance by creating an internationally-recognized ‘Pearson Eco-Business Zone’ around Toronto Pearson International Airport. Through new forms of business-to-business collaboration, Partners in Project Green delivers programming that helps businesses reduce energy and resource costs, uncover new business opportunities and address everyday operational challenges in a green and cost-effective manner.
“The ACI-NA Environmental Achievement Awards recognize those airports that set an example for the industry by going above and beyond regulatory compliance standards to protect and preserve the environment,” said Jessica Steinhilber, ACI-NA Senior Director of Environmental Affairs.
The awards will be presented at ACI-NA’s annual conference in Austin, Texas, in October.
