Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere

Governor Maura Healey

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This petition has reached over 13,900 signatures and growing

Dear Governor Healey,

We, the undersigned, respectfully and urgently ask you to use the full measure of your powers to stop Massport’s expansion plans for private luxury jet capacity at Hanscom Field, a project which will produce hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions, in opposition to every Climate goal that our towns, cities, Commonwealth, and the nation are working arduously to achieve.

Hanscom Field is already the largest private jetport in New England. If the proposal to double the private jet capacity moved forward, private jets enabled by Hanscom would cancel out 70% of the greenhouse gas reductions from all the solar PV installed in Massachusetts (based on a 2.5 hour flight). This is a statewide issue. The proposed development is simultaneously destructive to the climate and to the remedies we are trying to put in place.

It is also an environmental justice issue: a single private luxury jet trip to Asia generates more CO2e than a typical family in India generates in an entire lifetime.

Governments are beginning to acknowledge that we must stop growing private jet traffic. According to a 4/4/23 CNN report, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has proposed a ban on private jets by 2026 because of climate impacts and justice issues.  

Instead of working to reduce the number of these super-emitters, we subsidize them: private jets are exempt from sales tax; their facilities are exempt from property tax; and they provide huge tax breaks to their owners.

In a March 2023 report, the UN Secretary General declared, “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe.”

We applaud you, Governor Healey, for the bold and ambitious Climate goals you have set forth for our Commonwealth. Yet under no scenario can we afford a major setback and permit the expansion of greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of thousands of tons.

Massport benefits from private jet expansion, yet disclaims any responsibility for the resultant greenhouse gas emissions. Massport is not subject to any control by the legislature.

Only the governor has any power over Massport.

We, therefore, appeal to you to apply your leadership and authority to renounce expansion of private jet capacity at Hanscom – or at any airport – and thereby send a message to Massport, and every other airport owner, that such expansions are antithetical to the drastic and unprecedented steps we are now called upon to take to reduce CO2 emissions.

NOTE TO SIGNERS:

Are you on this page because you've seen the CBS program on Endangered Walden Pond? Click here to learn how the private jet expansion threatens this national landmark.

Campaign to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere

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To: Governor Maura Healey
From: [Your Name]

Dear Governor Healey,

We, the undersigned, respectfully and urgently ask you to use the full measure of your powers to stop Massport’s expansion plans for private luxury jet capacity at Hanscom Field, a project which will produce hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions, in opposition to every Climate goal that our towns, cities, Commonwealth, and the nation are working arduously to achieve.

Hanscom Field is already the largest private jetport in New England. If the proposal to triple the private jet capacity moves forward, it would cancel out 70% of the greenhouse gas reductions from all the solar PV installed in Massachusetts thus far. This is a statewide issue. The proposed development is simultaneously destructive to the climate and to the remedies we are trying to put in place.​

It is also an environmental justice issue: a single private luxury jet trip to Asia generates more CO2e than a typical family in India generates in an entire lifetime.

Governments are beginning to acknowledge that we must stop growing private jet traffic. According to a 4/4/23 CNN report, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has proposed a ban on private jets by 2026 because of climate impacts and justice issues.

Instead of working to reduce the number of these super-emitters, we subsidize them: private jets are exempt from sales tax; their facilities are exempt from property tax; and they provide huge tax breaks to their owners.

In March of this year, the UN Secretary General declared, “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe.”

We applaud you, Governor Healey, for the bold and ambitious Climate goals you have set forth for our Commonwealth. Yet under no scenario can we afford a major setback and permit the expansion of greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of thousands of tons.

Massport benefits from private jet expansion, yet disclaims any responsibility for the resultant greenhouse gas emissions. Massport is not subject to any control by the legislature.

Only the governor has any power over Massport.

We, therefore, appeal to you to apply your leadership and authority to renounce expansion of private jet capacity at Hanscom – or at any airport – and thereby send a message to Massport, and every other airport owner, that such expansions are antithetical to the drastic and unprecedented steps we are now called upon to take to reduce CO2 emissions.