[This is a letter to the President from a group that is fighting the
expansion of a GA airport in Minnesota.  (A link to their web site is at the
end of the letter.)  Most of is devoted to the broad arguments against
aviation expansion and in favor of intermodal transportation solutions, but
part of it specifically addresses the current push to expand GA reliever
airports.]

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

RE: Safe and Efficient Air Transportation Systems

Dear Mr. President,

In response to the letter sent to you from groups within the aviation
industry, dated July 26, 2001, we offer this reply.

The funding put forth for 60¹s space missions is hardly comparable to
funding new runway construction. To accommodate growth the FAA plans to add
runways at 60 out of 100 of the nation¹s largest airports and expand 32 of
the nation¹s 50 busiest runways. The group¹s threat of economic doom without
these proposed expansions and their space analogy is lost to all reason,
sounding like science fiction at best trying to measure up to scientific
exploration.

The request for funding and expansion plans is a one sided solution to our
transportation dilemma: skies raining jet fuel<< whether it¹s the end-all
answer to our nation¹s over-all transportation problems or not << whether in
fact commercial air travel has lost business customers due to poor service
and delays or not<< whether there is a current slump in commercial traffic
or not<< aviation expansion implies serious implications to our national
transportation system and quality of life.

Although modernization will certainly address some of the capacity issues,
when you have an airlines like Northwest locking the competition out by
scheduling 50 flights daily for their Chicago/ Minneapolis route,
you have an airline creating capacity problems. Capacity is more about greed
and inefficiency than additional runways.

The aviation industry¹s answer to multi-mobility is more planes. Expanding
and modernizing general aviation facilities to service those planes is part
of the transit take-over. According to Phil Boyer, President of the AOPA,
general aviation traffic is less than five percent of the traffic at the
most delayed-plagued airports. When you consider that business traffic has
substantially decreased due to a weaker economy and dissatisfaction with
delays, it¹s hard to fathom the push toward expansion of reliever airports
nation wide. Simply put, the push is to coax GA traffic away from major
hubs. Because corporations pay higher prices for commercial flights for
their employees, corporate time-shares are gaining in popularity. The
forecast of unprecedented growth in GA is evidenced by an increase in small
plane sales. General aviation¹s powerful lobby affords them the best of both
worlds; they can¹t be forced to land at major hubs, so they can choose to
land wherever they want. The result is another expanding sector of the
aviation industry that is excluded from pollution regulation by the
government.

Ideally a multi-dimensional transportation system is interactive: relieving
and supporting systems remedy gridlock and capacity issues, resulting in
travel that is safe, environmentally acceptable and cost effective. The
aviation system is not the most accessible and efficient form of
transportation. More planes and runways mean more cars to get to the planes,
more concrete infrastructure, more congestion, pollution and gridlock.

Environmentally the aviation system is not sustainable or compatible with
the earth. It¹s contribution of 1% of the total smog forming gases
constitutes dangerous levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide that
increase both air and ground pollution as well as the creation of
significant water contamination. As other sources of mobile pollution
stabilize, the pollution from planes at airports continues to grow as the
unwieldy industry expands.

The irresponsible and environmentally reckless plea for funding to expand
and modernize one system without taking into account that our entire
transportation system must work cooperatively, is contrary to a national
transportation system that should support clean efficient, safe
multi-connected travel. The aviation industry, bent on exclusivity, requests
funds that support a system that is counterproductive to environmentally
sustainable and compatible travel, integrated and regulated systems.

The FAA, and or, the government have not addressed important national and
global environmental concerns. Although airport pollution is comparable to
other industries, they are exempt from the rules and regulations other
industrial polluters must follow. The devastating environmental and health
implications to increase air travel should be the paramount consideration,
not more runways that exacerbate serious health concerns and air and ground
pollution.

Increased cancer rates from toxic emissions in communities surrounding
airports is on the rise nationally/globally. While the aviation community
espouses a cure all including new systems, software and technologies to
increase capacity, no where in their letter is there one statement that
refers to establishing safe institutional controls such as: an aviation tax
to give airlines an incentive to replace aging inefficient aircraft with
cleaner, quieter more fuel efficient planes; shutting down engines while
idling and taxing; enforcing mandatory reporting requirements of toxic
substances; the collection and treatment of deicing chemicals on site
instead of allowing them to enter watersheds; and funding toward research
and analysis of the effects of aviation¹s toxic emissions on global warming.

Finally, the aviation community shows a total disregard for communities and
consumers when they refer to "our system¹s ever-growing needs." The system
which is supposed to serve the needs of communities and consumers is the
second largest smog source in Los Angeles; the system allows closing
loopholes in the Clean Air Act to keep states from including smog-reduction
strategies for airports; the system is excluded from reporting to the TRI,
Toxic Release Inventory, the national database of information on toxic
releases; and finally the system is one of the largest contributors to VOCs,
organic compounds that participate in atmospheric photochemical reactions.

We sincerely request that the Bush Administration make communities and
consumers a top national priority, by working with us to ensure an
integrated transportation system that supports ecologically safe alternative
forms of transportation, less dependence and relief from polluting systems,
alleviates gridlock, environmental and noise pollution through local control
and strict adherence to regulatory oversight of the aviation industry.

ZERO EXPANSION
www.zeroexpansion.com

For more Aviation related information see: http://www.us-caw.org