Celebrate Earth Day Everyday
You reduce, reuse and recycle. You bike, bus or drive an efficient car.
You want to create a compassionate, healthy and sustainable world.
What's next?
Join our boycott of the Dane County Airport!
But why boycott the Dane County Airport?
You want to be sustainable –
Travel by airplane is the least efficient.
Are you concerned about
global warming or the wasteful use of natural resources? Every wonder why an
airplane ticket doesn’t provide the miles per gallon of your flight? Travel by
airplane consumes the most fuel and releases the most greenhouse gases of any
form of transportation. Each passenger on the most popular county
airport flight (between Madison and Chicago) generates as many greenhouse gases as if each passenger were driving the
largest Hummer SUV or a 15-passenger van. A family of four could make the same trip 20 times in a Toyota Prius. Best option would be taking one of the regular bus trips from Madison to either the Milwaukee or O'Hare airport. A single person could make the same trip 5 times in a Prius or taking a bus.
The airport promotes Dane County sprawl.
While the majority of people working in Madison commute from outlying suburbs, the airport removes over 20% of the city from residential development. This uninhabitable “airport ghetto” is large enough to contain the cities of Monona, Stoughton and Verona with combined populations of over 27,000 people. Within Madison, the county airport controls zoning within 3 miles or 27 square miles. This limits the height of buildings stops the creation of more densely populated neighborhoods.
You want to be progressive –
Airport taxes only benefit the rich.
Imagine if taxes on rich people were only used to provide services for rich people. That isn’t progressive but that is how the airport operates. Charges to passengers and airlines can only be used to support the airport. While other Dane County programs face cuts, the airport has spent over $150 million on improvements during the past 10 years. It has an unlimited budget and generates a profit. In 2005, this profit was $5 million.
The county airport benefits while surrounding neighborhoods pay.
Noise from the county airport has chased middle class families from neighborhoods on the east and north sides of the Madison. These neighborhoods now have the lowest property values in the city, the highest unemployment and schools with the highest percentage of low income families.
You want to be responsible –
The airport is an unregulated polluter.
There is no USEPA or DNR to limit county airport noise impacts on the environment or surrounding neighborhoods. It is like a self-regulated industry deciding that nothing will stand in its way.
The county airport is accountable to no one.
Over 68,000 people live
within 3 miles of airport. That’s comparable to the populations of Sun Prairie,
Verona, Stoughton, Oregon & Cottage Grove combined. That’s 29% of Madison residents and 14% of
Dane County residents. However, there will be no elections to decide who or how
the airport is managed - just a commission populated by the airport’s most
vigorous supporters.
You want Madison to be a healthy place –
Airport environmental standards are old and useless.
Airport noise standards were established over 30 years ago by the Federal Aviation Agency. They would allow a wailing fire truck to drive around and around a city block. These outdated standards don’t protect residents from the physical and mental impacts of noise exposure. These meaningless standards reduce school performance and expand the achievement gap of minority students.
The airport has rejected calls for common sense noise control
measures.
The county airport’s noise control plan is over 20 years old. In a letter to County Exec Joe Parisi, neighborhoods surrounding the airport explained how other airports measure noise levels, keep flights away from populated areas, add noise insulation to homes, and relocate impacted residents. While the county airport has spent $150 million on building improvements and new runways, it has implemented none of these common sense noise control measures. City residents surrounding the county airport recently met with County Exec Parisi and airport staff to review airport impacts and measures to reduce them. Residents told Parisi and airport staff:
“Airplanes, jets and helicopters continue to fly over our homes and schools. The noise and vibrations shake our houses, interrupt our classrooms, stop our conversations, and disrupt our sleep. We want to our neighborhoods to be safer, healthier and more desirable.”
Parisi and airport staff responded by flying in a lawyer to make it
clear to residents that the county airport has no obligation and no intention
of reducing its impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. Parisi offered no support
to neighborhood residents.
There is no environmental justice near the airport.
The majority of the residents surrounding the airport are low income families. With no reasonable environmental standards and no oversight, the airport has been free to expose those who are least able to defend themselves.
You want Madison to be a beautiful place –
We want our city to be a beautiful place including what we see and what we hear. The noise, violations and heart-stopping roar of airplanes, jets and helicopters makes Madison an ugly place to live.What are your alternatives to the airport?
When planning a trip away from Madison consider driving or taking a bus or train. There are convenient buses to the other airports in Milwaukee and Chicago.Van Galder bus travels to and from the O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago 10 times a day.
Badger Bus travels to and from the Mitchell airport in Milwaukee 8 times a day.
A modest proposal ---
The county airport is unwilling to use its access to unlimited funds to offset its impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. Madison residents should install a toll booth at the airport entrance and collect an environmental impact fee from each passenger. A $10 per flight fee would collect approximately $10 million per year.
This fund could be used to offset airport impacts including:
- Creation of a noise abatement fund to pay for sound insulation improvements on surrounding homes and schools. The Minneapolis airport currently pays up to $14,000 per home for noise abatement improvements.
- Provide additional teachers and tutors to help surrounding schools counter the reduction in educational performance and achievement gap caused by aircraft noise.
- Implement neighborhood improvement projects to improve the quality of life for surrounding residents and offset the loss of taxes due to reduced property values.
- Create an independent airport environmental protection officer to advocate for residents and reduce county airport impacts
- Write your mayor or alder today and ask them to propose a city toll at the county airport.
Send your ideas to us by writing: ilovemadison AT boycottdane.org