By Lara Sullivan
Alex Chatfield’s piece (“My Turn: Proposed private-jet Hanscom expansion is a climate bomb in sheep’s clothing,” February 23, 2025) was an incredibly informative piece on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs), which Massport touts as their solution to “green” aviation, despite their lack of technical merit. It should be pointed out that at the meeting referred to in Chatfield’s piece, Lincoln Select Board Member Jim Hutchinson made some excellent points that deserve to be highlighted.
For context, at the Jan. 28, 2025 HATS meeting, new Massport CEO Rich Davey enthusiastically promoted SAFs at their facilities, despite major concerns about the scalability and the drawbacks of SAFs. In response, Hutchinson pointed out that, even if Massport promotes the use of SAFs to the fullest extent possible, they don’t have the power to actually ensure that planes use SAFs. “Even if you had SAF, you can’t make jets that use the airports that you control use it,” said Hutchinson. “You’re not allowed to require them to use SAF… And in general, FAA doesn’t seem that interested in managing CO2 emissions. So how do we deal with that as a state that has… pretty serious climate goals?”
We will see how Massport plans to address these concerns in the coming weeks. For now, it seems as though they have their fingers in their ears, ready to push ahead with a faulty solution despite the well-researched concerns expressed by experts, state and town officials, and community members.
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