The Airport Communities Podcast
In our last episode, Why Port Package Update programs keep failing, we talked about some of the not well-considered proposals various activists keep supporting. And also, with the blizzard of agencies that all seem to be involved in air quality, how is it that the FAA seems to be the only true ‘deciderer’ when it comes to Sea-Tac Airport?
This time we offer a 30,000 foot view of all those acronyms, and then provide a thumbnail sketch of how such a large administrative state could yield such poor outcomes over time for airport communities.
Environmental policy has two eras: before 1970 and after 1970. Before 1970, there were various state environmental policies and separate federal laws covering water and air. Then NEPA was passed–spearheaded by our own Senator Scoop Jackson, creating one of the largest expansions to the administrative state in American history. The core argument was to create one standard.
Meanwhile, Californians were able to a one of a kind carve-out in the Clean Air Act, to give them the ability to set their own standards for emissions. These become the better standards which have led to massive improvements in air quality in just a few years. Improvements we now take for granted.
If the most consequential environmental policy in American History was created by a Washingtonian, and Boeing was located in Washington, why didn’t aviation environmental law turn better?
UW Meteorologist Cliff Mass has some black humor which explains this. “People who live in Puget Sound like to ride a bike to work every day, then reward themselves for their climate activism by flying to Europe twice a year.” Noting that just those two transatlantic flights generate more GHGs than most people do in their entire home over the course of a year.
Since then, Boeing has become a monopoly. There haven’t been market incentives to improve the product (or even build a new product) in over a decade.
The decision not to hold aviation to the same engineering standards as automotive was intentional, not an oversight. And today, every airport community continues to pay the price.
Topics
- Federal Register: Delegation of authority to regional clean air agencies (PSCAA)
- WA Ecology SIPS
- EPA: Air quality implementation plans
- The History of ORCAA
- HistoryLink: Senator Henry Jackson conducts U.S. Senate hearing on NEPA
- HistoryLink: NEPA
- Wikipedia: Council On Environmental Quality
- Clearing the Air: The War on Smog | American Experience | PBS
- United Airlines – 100% green Carbon neutral by 2050
- Everett-built Boeing 767 gets a 5-year reprieve from climate rules
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