Bedford Minuteman
Wednesday, August 27, 2003

FedEx plans still a question at Hanscom Field

By Barbara Forster / Correspondent

Whether Federal Express will ever fly out of Hanscom Field remains a question without an answer. On Friday, Aug. 22, the company postponed a scheduled September presentation to the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

Stating that the company is "continuing to explore options that might satisfy our current and projected requirements in the greater Boston market," FedEx Senior Counsel David Jensen wrote, "We believe it would be premature to make a presentation at the Sept. 16 HFAC meeting."

Jensen who noted that "FedEx recognizes and supports the statutory role of the HFAC in this regard," added that if the company moves forward with its Hanscom plans, the commission will be notified.

Deciding if the postponement is good news or bad is impractical at this point, argued Bedford Selectman Sheldon Moll.

"I can read anything I could wish for in their statement," he said. "They say they are still exploring options for expansion but they keep open the possibility of coming to HFAC at some time."

FedEx spokesperson Pam Roberson confirmed the observation.

"We want to be sure we have a final decision before doing anything," she said. "There's no time crunch and no deadline for our business purposes."

Finding answers for the "why" question is equally challenging.

"If you go for wishful thinking, it's because they had second thoughts and realized that there was a great movement here against the proposal and great technical and environmental concerns," said Moll. "Or maybe because they are accustomed to expanding in large airports like Logan, they may not have experienced such negative reactions in the past."

Richard Walsh of Massport suggested FedEx may not be ready for the commission.

"HFAC had a dozen or so well thought out questions (to be answered at the
presentation) and it's not fair to HFAC if they (FedEx) don't have the answers," he said.

But citizen activists have another theory. Save Our Heritage President Anna Winter reports that "citizens from New Hampshire to Alaska have sent thousands of letters, faxes and post cards to FedEx."

"These communities and their national supporters have sent a clear message to the top ranks at FedEx that we are serious about preservation," she adds.

In June, SOH and Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area's Irreplaceable Resources started a letter writing campaign opposing the cargo company's proposal, but establishing a cause-and-effect link between the campaign and the postponement is difficult.

Roberson, for example, acknowledged that while several members on the FedEx Board of Directors received such mail early on. But she added that nothing has shown up for about a month.

Winter, however, promises that the letter-writing campaign is going full steam ahead in September.

"We will be redoubling our efforts to increase our outreach campaign and convince FedEx that it is bad business to set up shop in the middle of a national park," she said.

In mid-June, FedEx which runs locally out of Logan Airport, made preliminary inquiries to Massport about scheduled cargo flights to and from the airfield. Although nothing was in writing, FedEx proposed a five-day a week schedule of one flight arriving and leaving before 11 p.m. The plans also indicated that approximately 28 truckloads - including loading and unloading - would be used for the single flight.

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