By Lara Sullivan
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, eighteen “billionaires” gathered at the entrance to Massport’s Hanscom Field civil airport (as distinct from Hanscom Air Force Base). These “billionaires,” dressed in fancy attire, greeted their fellow high flyers as they entered the largest private jetport in New England, holding signs with slogans such as “Gov. Healey: Stop the Private Jet Housing Crisis,” “Climate Crisis is for People without Jets,” and “What’s Wrong with My Private Jet? I Recycle!”
This satirical standout was organized by the Coalition to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere and their supporters. It was designed to highlight the massive proposed private jet hangar expansion at Hanscom Field and hold high polluters accountable for posing an existential crisis to our planet and our livelihoods with their excessive emissions.
The Billionaires’ Standout at Hanscom, which included six Lincolnites and others from as far away as Granby, Mass.
Climate experts and citizens alike understand that we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions as our planet warms. Communities across Massachusetts have dedicated significant time and resources to this effort. For example, Lincoln has installed chargers for electric vehicles, solar panels over the town’s capped landfill and the parking lot at the Lincoln Public Schools, committed to achieving net zero by 2050, and has its own Green Energy Committee.
Meanwhile, the proposed expansion is expected to induce roughly 6,000 additional private jet flights at Hanscom Field, which would increase private jet emissions by roughly 150,000 tons of CO2e each year. This is equivalent to the emissions of over 32,000 passenger vehicles each year, all for the luxury and convenience that 63 to 76 new private jets can provide for their ultra-wealthy passengers who are among 0.003% of the global population. Although Hanscom is located in Concord, Bedford, Lexington, and Lincoln, towns far beyond those communities would experience the climate impacts from the proposed expansion.
Local officials formally expressed the town’s opposition to the proposed private jet expansion in an Oct. 10, 2023 joint letter to the governor signed by the Select Boards of the four Hanscom-area towns, as well as in am April 26, 2024 public comment on the North Airfield developers’ Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) as part of a still-ongoing state environmental review. In June 2024, EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper rejected the DEIR because it did not comply with MEPA standards and ordered the developers to produce a re-do in the form of a Supplemental DEIR (SDEIR) which, over two years later, still hasn’t been filed. Following numerous postponements, the developers now claim they will file the SDEIR at the end of 2026.
The statewide Coalition to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere (SPJE) has over 120 organizations across Massachusetts and beyond, and is growing every day. Read more about SPJE at www.spje.org.
The standouts at the rotary by the entrance to the Hanscom Civil Airport Terminal happen every Wednesday from 8:00–9:00am (only last week’s was a Billionaires’ Standout). The next standout is Wednesday, Sept. 23. For more details, email info@spje.org.
Sullivan is the project manager for SPJE and a resident of Lincoln.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnians. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Leave a Reply