Pitkin County commissioner pushes for climate action to be taken at Aspen airport

During Thursday’s Pitkin County Airport Advisory Board meeting, climate initiatives were introduced to the group, spearheaded by County Commissioner Patti Clapper.

She recently traveled to Florida for the National Association of Counties’ (NAC) annual conference. While there, she helped advocate for NAC to support county-owned airports using their aeronautical revenue for offsite climate initiatives, according to a press release from Pitkin County.

The resolution was approved by the association’s Transportation Policy Steering Committee, which will then work to draft a proposal for Congressional action.

“While Pitkin County has been the tip of the spear when it comes to advocating for reductions in air pollution and carbon emissions tied to aviation, with the support of NAC, we now have a louder and stronger voice to advance our priorities,” Clapper said in the release.

Pitkin County’s Board of County Commissioners has advocated for such measures, like sustainable aviation fuels; but due to the geographical constraints of the airport property, the county is limited in what it can implement onsite. The ability to use aeronautical revenues offsite would enable the county to pursue climate-driven initiatives, the release said.

The county is looking for help within the region for two different projects w​ith two different companies. One project is to create a refinery on the Western Slope to then supply sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to other airports. The other project is to obtain mobile units to place in landfills that will convert the waste’s emissions, like methane gas, to SAF.

“So we’re early in the stages,” Rich Englehart, deputy county manager for Pitkin County, said during Thursday’s meeting. “We have drawn in Mesa County to sit at the table with us to investigate this a little bit.”

Other airports include Grand Junction, Rifle, and Eagle. The latter airport is already involved in a landfill project of their own.

The commissioners, Clapper and Englehart, are going to the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday to present an informal resolution supporting a grant application. The resolution will request $200,000 for a Department of Local Affairs grant. The county will have to match 50% of that.

A feasibility study will also have to be conducted to see if companies can deliver on what they tell the county they can do regarding the projects.

Another plan Clapper proposed at the NAC conference was to mitigate the impacts of aviation emissions on communities. There would be a carbon fee, or tax, and these funds would be used for climate action; however, this was tabled for the time being.

“So they didn’t kill it, but they said, ‘Hey, we’ll sit down with you and work on it and see because it’s such an important issue,'” Englehart said. “They’re willing to go back and take another look at that and work with Commissioner Clapper on replacing that and seeing what we can do to get that done. So overall, really successful. One did not get killed — at least, it’s still alive.”