"Miami International Airport is First U.S. Airport to Achieve Environmental Certification"

Friday, August 31, 2001

Miami International Airport is First U.S. Airport to Achieve Environmental
Certification


MIAMI, /PRNewswire/ -- Miami International Airport is the first airport in
the United States to receive the most distinguished certification for
environmental stewardship. The certification, ISO 14001, was given to MIA
for operation of its fuel storage facility. ISO 14001 is a standard
established by the International Standards Organization that defines the
elements of an Environmental Management System necessary for an organization
to effectively manage its impact on the environment.

The certification is an internationally recognized indicator that an
organization takes a serious, quality-based approach to its environmental
management. Its key components include establishing a department-wide
environmental policy statement, a systematic approach to monitoring
operations, checking and corrective action processes, and periodic
management reviews.

To receive the ISO 14001 certification, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department
developed written procedures for all operational areas that are likely to
handle potential pollutants and trained its employees accordingly. These
procedures were reviewed and approved by ERM-CVS, an authorized
international ISO certification firm.

Pedro Hernandez, MDAD Manager of Environmental Engineering, explained, "The
ISO 14001 Certification Process is intended to provide organizations with
Environmental Management Systems that comply with international standards by
doing the 'right thing' (environmentally speaking) and by striving to
achieve continuous improvement in their operations. Perhaps the biggest
challenge we face at MIA is to insure that our operations, as well as, our
tenants' and contractors' operations comply with regulations in order to
minimize, and eventually prevent, environmental impacts and their resultant
burdens."

The MDAD action was prompted by inherited soil and ground water
contamination created by the release of petroleum products and chemicals
used in operations by many airlines, aircraft maintenance and equipment
service companies, and the United States Department of Defense over the past
several decades. Miami-Dade County has undertaken legal proceedings against
these entities to recover the costs of remediating the effects of these
pollutants.

Since 1993, the remediation has included the following:

   * Cleaning of more than five billion gallons of ground water from the
Biscayne Aquifer.

   * Recovering more than 100,000 gallons of petroleum product from the
underground.

   * Removing more than 200 underground fuel tanks.

   * Removing and/or treating more than one million tons of contaminated
soil.

   * Completing asbestos abatement and/or demolition of buildings containing
asbestos.

MIA Aviation Director Angela Gittens, noted, "We can be proud that we are
not only cleaning up past pollution, we are also insuring that our
operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner to leave a
safer and cleaner facility for the future."

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