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By Roger Yu
USA TODAY
Prodded by rules and financial incentives, airports
are using more vehicles for moving passengers and workers that are less
taxing on the environment.
Buses and cars owned by Phoenix Sky Harbor and
Dallas/Fort Worth now run fully on cleaner-burning compressed natural gas,
or CNG. The airports in San Jose, San Francisco, Milwaukee and New York
have been aggressively buying vehicles that run on alternative fuels,
including CNG, biodiesel or propane.
More than 25 major airports use shuttles or employee
passenger cars using natural gas, says Richard Kolodziej, president of
NGVAmerica, a trade association for natural gas vehicles.
The current building boom at airports is a key reason
for the switch. The federal government assigns each proposed runway or
terminal project a permissible level of environmental damage. If the
airport anticipates that the new project would exceed the permitted level,
it must find ways to offset the pollution at other parts of the airport.
Using cleaner airport vehicles has helped with the required pollution
offsets, says Bill Elrick of consulting firm The Torrington Group.
Regulators, he says, "are saying, 'If you don't meet
(the limit), we're going to make it hell for you.' "
In addition, tougher laws, improving technology, higher
petroleum prices and government subsidies have made cleaner vehicles more
attractive.
Many states' environmental agencies help pay for the
higher cost of using alternative-fuel vehicles. A CNG shuttle can cost as
much as $50,000 more than one that is gas-powered.
A Federal Aviation Administration program called
Voluntary Airport Low Emissions (VALE) provides grants to airports to
pursue cleaner-fuel projects, including purchase of
alternative-fuel vehicles. But its "overly tight restrictions" and the
fact that its money comes from the same pot of money for other airport
infrastructure projects have made many airports reluctant to apply,
Kolodziej says. Only four airports have received VALE funding since it
started in 2001.
Some airports are encouraging the use of alternative
fuels in shuttles used by hotels and private parking companies. San
Francisco, for example, charges lower fees for hotels and parking
companies that use only alternative fuel: $2.65 a trip vs. $7.95 for
others. Nearly all vendors now pay the lower fee, says San Francisco
International's Roger Hooson.
Oakland requires airport taxis and
ground-transportation providers to run 50% of fleets on alternative fuel.
And Boston gives preferred parking to passengers driving alternative-fuel
vehicles. Taxis with cleaner fuel get front-of-the-line privileges twice a
day, a program modeled after one at San Francisco
International. | 
