Aspen airport accounts for 9% of Pitkin County’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Officials look to change that
County seeks grant to finance feasibility study for sustainable aviation fuel production facility
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Aspen/Pitkin County Airport is focused on setting a new path to decarbonize its footprint.
Pitkin County commissioners on Wednesday unanimously passed an official grant proposal that seeks funds from the Department of Local Affairs to study the possibility of constructing a sustainable aviation fuels production facility on the Western Slope.
The grant, aimed toward the first tier of DOLA’s Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Fund, will support a study up to $200,000 to determine whether the regional sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) production facility is possible on the Western Slope.
“So that’s all to say that we have opened up the can on this, and now we’re really trying to see what may be the best opportunity for us,” said Rich Englehart, deputy county manager, who introduced a preliminary plan at last Thursday’s airport advisory board meeting.
SAF is an alternative fuel, energy rich and renewable, that can be used in aircrafts. SAF comes from several different sources, like beetle kill wood, landfill waste and traditional biofuel, similar to corn ethanol. It is seen as an essential component to decarbonizing flights.
The study will include an analysis of the market, feedstock availability, production capacity, feasibility of location and infrastructure, environmental impact, economic impact and regulatory landscape, according to the agenda item summary.
The official cost of the study is unknown, but the manager’s office is going to ask for the full amount available from the grant: $400,000. Airport funds cannot be used since the SAF facility will be located off-site.
The grant is a 50/50 match, where DOLA will provide half of the required funds ($200,000), and the county will provide the other half through general funds. The county, however, has already garnered support for the facility from various partners, so the county may end up paying less.
“I appreciate the fact that we’re potentially moving forward with this,” said Aspen airport director Dan Bartholomew, who joined climate action analyst Michael Port and Englehart during Wednesday’s discussion. “Let’s open opportunities since the airport only controls a small fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions that come off of it. Most of it is from aircraft operations. And this gets us closer to that goal of sustainable aviation fuel, and without that, we have no chance of probably meeting that goal.”
According to the agenda item summary, Pitkin County’s current climate action plan was adopted in 2017. In 2021, the county adopted new climate action goals to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2050, adopt infrastructure, land use and regional and environmental resources for the impacts of climate change, and more. This plan also found that aviation fuel makes up 9% of the county’s greenhouse gas emissions.
ASE was one of the first airports in the country to generate an airport-wide emissions inventory. Consistent with national trends, the fuel loaded into aircrafts, both private and commercial, represents the largest share of airport-related emissions, the agenda item summary went on to say.
For example, the aviation industry uses 100 billion gallons of fuel per year, and the industry produces 2% of the world’s emissions. ASE alone uses 8-9 million gallons of aviation fuel per year.
Currently, ASE uses a SAF facility in California. Having one in Colorado will provide jobs that will replace those lost with the decrease in coal dependency, as well as decrease emissions from trucks transporting the fuel over 1,000 miles between states.
“Sustainable aviation is a pretty important way that we can reduce emissions from the aviation sector, organic waste to compost, anything which has high nutrient energy density,” Commissioner Greg Poschman said. “We’re not at the very bleeding edge of this luckily, it’s technology that exists.”
Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.
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