Pollution Rules Fly Right Past Airports

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Pollution surrounding John Wayne Airport and other airports nationwide goes largely unchecked, a trend that should be reversed as Southern California grapples with reducing smog, a study released Thursday suggests.

The problems will worsen as the nation’s need for quick, convenient air transportation continues to grow into the 21st century, forcing busy airports to expand and others to crop up in heavily populated areas, said senior attorney Gail Ruderman Feuer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that conducted the study.

“Airplanes and airports are polluting more than we realize, and there is very little regulation of this polluting source,” said Ruderman Feuer after releasing a 194-page document titled “Flying Off Course: Environmental Impacts of America’s Airports.”

“We look at cars, vans and refineries as the villains. But airports play a role, too,” she said.

Underscoring the hazards of living near an airport, the report highlights include:

* Toxic emissions from factories and refineries must be carefully calculated and reported under federal law. Airlines and airports are exempt, making it unclear exactly how much toxic emissions they produce.

* The FAA method of determining how much noise an airport makes by averaging aircraft sound over long periods of time downplays the severity of aircraft on a daily basis.

* Commercial flights at area airports are responsible for more than 10% of all air pollution dumped into the environment each day in the South Coast Basin, which includes Orange County and portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

* Commercial operations at John Wayne Airport spewed out at least 432 tons of air pollution in 1993, the latest figures available. The amount of pollution does not include the large number of general aviation flights. Cars and vans traveling to and from the airport coughed out an additional 256 tons of air pollution that year.

The problem of airport pollution will come into sharper focus over the next few years as Southern California struggles to clean up its air, Ruderman Feuer said.

The FAA did not return phone calls seeking comment on the report.

Solutions to the problems include bringing in the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate airport noise and air pollution; recommend that pilots shut down engines while waiting to take off and to keep idling to a minimum; convert airport vehicles and ground equipment to alternative fuels and encourage the use of public transportation to and from airports.

Orange County will have to take those concerns into consideration as it decides whether to build an airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that would be five times as large as John Wayne Airport and would rank as one of the largest in the nation.

“We have an area that’s plagued with an airport pollution problem,” Ruderman Feuer said. “It’s scary to think of putting in an airport at El Toro that’s five times the size of John Wayne.”

She stressed that the group is not opposed to an El Toro airport, but urged that any new airports should be state-of-the-art operations that curb pollution.

The report was greeted by opponents of an El Toro airport as supporting their greatest fear--that an airport will bring unwanted noise, pollution and safety concerns.

“This is exactly why we don’t want an airport, the pollution is going to be unbearable,” said airport opponent Betty Del Rio of Aliso Viejo.

But Newport Beach residents who support an El Toro airport as a way to curb traffic at John Wayne Airport saw the conclusions of the report differently.

“Pollution is a serious problem that cannot be ignored,” said Clarence J. Turner, former Newport Beach mayor fighting for an airport at El Toro. “But an airport at El Toro would mean fewer people driving to LAX,” reducing vehicle emissions.