Electric Support Vehicles Installed At La Guardia

A project to demonstrate reduction of air pollution at airports has been unveiled at the historic Marine Air Terminal at La Guardia Airport in Queens. Delta Air Lines has replaced diesel-fueled groundsupport equipment servicing the Delta Shuttle with fast-charging electric vehicles.

The $1.1 million project is partially funded by a $494,000 grant from the Queens Clean Air Project (QCAP) and $160,000 from the New York Power Authority, QCAP is a partnership with Clean Air Communities, funded by a $2 million grant from NYPA.

Delta has retired 15 pieces of diesel equipment, including seven baggage tractors, six belt loaders and two aircraft tractors, and retrofitted one diesel aircraft tractor with a diesel particulate filter.

The project will save 61,840 gallons of diesel fuel annually and reduce air emissions by 19.2 tons per year.

"Delta and all the partners in the Queens Clean Air Project have proven one of Governor Pataki's key tenets: that the private and public sectors can work together to successfully incorporate smart environmental thinking with smart business practices, so both the environment and the economy benefit," said NYPA President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy Carey.

To complete the La Guardia project, Delta worked with the staff of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, to install equipment needed to charge the batteries of the electric vehicles.

Along with Clean Air Communities and the Power Authority, QCAP's participants include the Northeast States Center for a Clean Air Future, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New York Public Interest Research Group and the office of the Queens Borough President.

"The Queens Clean Air Project is an important component in the combined effort to reduce pollution and improve health in this county," said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.

The Delta project is one of four QCAP initiatives. The others are the installation of the city's largest environmentally sound "green roof" atop Silvercup Studios in Long Island City; the deployment of solar-powered trash compactors throughout Queens; and the installation of pollution controls on 65 Department of Sanitation refuse collection trucks.

Reprinted courtesy of the New York Power Authority NYPA News.