Stewart casts cold eye on carbon
By KATHY KAHN

Stewart International Airport presents an opportunity for aviation experts and engineers to work with “essentially a blank slate,” said Anthony Shorris, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which now runs the Newburgh facility. He plans to use that tabula rasa effectively.

Speaking to nearly 500 guests at Pattern for Progress’ annual dinner at Anthony’s Pier 9 in New Windsor the evening after the Port Authority’s Nov. 1 takeover, Shorris said the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent a year. “And Stewart offers us a new start. We plan for Stewart to be the first carbon-negative airport, and we plan to be the first to do it.”

The pre-existing Port Authority airports ­ LaGuardia, JFK, Newark and Teterboro ­ would be too costly and complicated to contemplate such an endeavor. Stewart is perceived as a “laboratory for test run and trials, an ideal proving ground for sustainable aviation,” said Shorris.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will set up shop at Stewart, with faculty and students using the facility to work on green initiatives. The overall goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions there 25 percent by 2010 and by 50 percent by 2012.

“There is no other operator in the world working in this way,” Shorris said. “We see Stewart as a global hub for innovative thinking, and a symbol of the future of the Hudson Valley,” with RPI’s research center at Stewart jumpstarting the technology.

In 2006, the Port Authority airport system supported nearly 500,000 jobs and generated $20 billion in wages in addition to $57 billion in economic activity. Stewart presents opportunity for the Port Authority, not just in relieving congested air space over the metro area, but in creating economic opportunity for the nine-county swath surrounding it and creating a “shining star in aviation history with our green initiative,” said Shorris.

 

 

	Reader Comments     Please add your Comments
	Hudson Valley TalkBack Name: Email Address: Add your Question or Comment Which County do you live in? Dutchess Orange Putnam Rockland Ulster Which County do you work in? Dutchess Orange Putnam Rockland Ulster   form mail

Advertising

 

Subscriptions