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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Seven - Conclusions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies and Financing Opportunities for Airport Environmental Programs. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14567.
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Page 211
Page 212
Suggested Citation:"Chapter Seven - Conclusions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Strategies and Financing Opportunities for Airport Environmental Programs. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14567.
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Page 212

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211 This chapter summarizes the information and findings dis- cussed in the previous chapters. Identified gaps for further research are also presented. FINDINGS This ACRP synthesis provides summary information on financing opportunities and strategies to support airport envi- ronmental initiatives. The study effort demonstrated that fund- ing opportunities are available for almost every potential environmental initiative that an airport might choose to under- take. State and federal resources may be available. This synthesis provides a summary of funding opportuni- ties and strategies. However, it is not intended to be used as a guide by airport operators in preparing applications or propos- als in response to specific funding opportunities. The matrices included in this report (see Tables 1–3) provide reference sources, contact information, and web links that airports can use if they choose to pursue particular funding opportunities. In addition, funding opportunities are constantly changing; new funding opportunities are announced and application peri- ods close. It is important for airports to monitor the programs in which they are interested to determine when new opportu- nities become available and what actions are needed to qual- ify for funding. Just as funding opportunities are constantly changing, envi- ronmental opportunities are evolving. In the past, a major focus of environmental responsibilities at airports was on mitigation. Today, these responsibilities are much broader and expecta- tions are higher. Environmental stewardship is increasingly the standard applied to airports and other governmental and commercial entities. Stewardship can include the concept of environmental sustainability and anticipating and preparing for environmental consequences of specific actions or proj- ects and of the overall activities of the airport entity. As governmental entities, airport operators are eligible for funding opportunities in most resource areas. However, for some resource areas, airports do not appear to have been active in seeking funding. These areas include: • Habitat and wildlife conservation, • Water quality, • Historic and cultural resources, • Brownfields, • Recycling, and • Petroleum storage tanks and releases. For wildlife habitat conservation and water quality, the results indicated that airport operators might not compete effectively for funding on a stand-alone basis; it might be nec- essary to partner with another public agency or even a non- profit to compete for funding. For the other listed resource areas, no significant impediments to stand-alone applications were identified. There are two areas where airports have been active in undertaking initiatives and pursuing funding—energy effi- ciency and vehicle emission reductions. With respect to energy efficiency, the following was determined: • Public financing is available in the form of grants or low- interest loans. • Private-sector financing is available through energy providers and energy service companies. • The capital costs of some initiatives can be self-financed through reductions in energy consumption, but the pay- back period can be substantially shortened if up-front financial assistance is obtained. • Airports have not been as active in developing renewable energy programs as they have been in pursuing energy efficiency. With respect to vehicle emissions the study revealed the following: • Multiple funding opportunities are available—including Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE), Clean Cities programs, and Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) programs • Participating in a coalition or joint effort may increase the probability of funding. Some local or regional con- sortia have sought airport participation. Some air- ports that successfully pursued alternative fuel vehicle funding did so by teaming with other entities, and air- port staff believe this approach enhanced the airports competitiveness. CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSIONS

FURTHER RESEARCH As noted, there are a number of resource areas in which air- ports have not traditionally sought financial assistance, even though they appear to be eligible. The reasons for the his- toric lack of participation could not be established through this study effort. Additional research to address this issue might be beneficial. Such research might include the fol- lowing efforts, focused on individual resource areas or fund- ing programs: • Confirming airport eligibility for the funding program. • Determining the scope and extent of eligible projects that might typically arise on an airport. • Identifying any impediments to airports pursuing funding. However, the value of the research efforts relative to the potential level of effort required is unclear. In most resource areas where airport participation has been limited, states pro- vide the funding or play a substantial role in determining what projects are funded. The resolution of the research issues may vary from state to state and resource area to resource area. The level of effort to address the issues on a nationwide basis could be substantial, given the need to examine the programs in indi- vidual states and territories. If additional research is under- taken, it would be prudent to focus either on the programs available in a particular state or on a particular resource area. Another potentially beneficial area of research would be to develop more in-depth indexes or checklists of information necessary to support successful funding applications. Such research would be most manageable and useful if it focused on particular resource areas or grant types. 212

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TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 24: Strategies and Financing Opportunities for Airport Environmental Programs summarizes public and private funding opportunities and strategies available to airports to help accomplish their environmental programs and objectives.

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