FedEx, PTIA propose nighttime cargo hub
Vera Brown
STAZT WRITER
Federal Express and the Pied
mont Triad International Airport
plan to build a FedEx hub that
would serve the entire U.S. east
coast by 2005, with up to 126 flights
per night.
The project entails a third air
port runway that FedEx planes
would use mostly between the hours
of midnight and six a.m. The PTI
Airport Authority is in charge of the
process, though the Federal Avia
tion Administration will recom
mend giving or withholding federal
funds.
Opposition to the project be
gan to grow not long after FedEx
announced in April 1998 that it
chose the Piedmont airport as the
hub location. Concerns about the
new hub include increased air pol
lution, water pollution, depletion of
water supply, wetland destruction,
public safety, and health and noise
pollution. Many citizens also ques
tion the tax incentive package Gov
ernor Jim Hunt approved in July
1998, that may give FedEx up to $ll5
million in tax credits and exemp
tions.
Greensboro residents Ken
Urbine and Richard Michaud lost a
court battle in March 2000 to pre
vent the Airport Authority from con
demning their property, which the
airport bought in order to further
expansion.
The Greens
boro Chamber of
Commerce unani
mously backs the
proposed hub, and
is one of the major
forces behind its
promotion. In an
open letter to its
membership, the
Chamber claimed
that "FedEx will
bring an incredible 16,000 new jobs
to the region."
That number includes not only
the 1,500 FedEx positions directly
related to the hub, but also jobs cre
ated when businesses attracted by
the new cargo hub locate in the
Triad. In 1998, University of North
Carolina economist Don Jud con
ducted a study regarding the eco
nomic impact of the hub, also esti
mating that 16,000 jobs would be
created.
The new hub would bring an
economic boost to the Triad; how
ever, estimates as to the magnitude
vary. Don Jud argued that $2.4 bil
lion would result. In its member-
GijILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
ship letter the
Chamber of
Commerce
stated, "the
overall invest
ment will have
a $7.5 billion
impact."
The
Chamber also
declared re
gional tax base
expansion and
the enhance
ment of the
city's reputa
tion as benefits
of the FedEx
hub. Greens
boro College
President Cra
ven Williams is
the chairman
of the Greens
boro Chamber
of Commerce. He specifically re
ferred to the economic decline pre
dicted by the McKinsey report, a com
prehensive study, funded by local
foundations, of the area's economics.
He stated that the hub would attract
more advanced manufacturing busi
nesses that would provide the kinds
of well-paying jobs that the area needs
in order to recover.
Much of the speculation as to an
economic boost rests upon other busi
nesses being attracted by the hub.
MWG-Biotech Inc. and Medi Manu
facturing both say that the FedEx hub
The Environmental Pro
tection Agency, which in
this situation has no real
authority, has stated that
the Triad area is not a fit
for the FedEx hub.
comparative ad
vantage: an airport without many
weather-related closures and a loca
tion on Interstates 85 and 40 as well
as the Norfolk Southern Railway. The
chairman also noted that aircraft are
getting progressively quieter.
Opposition group Piedmont
Quality of Life Coalition, led by Presi
dent Chris Peeler, is voicing concern
as to the costs of the hub. On Febru
ary 5, Chris Peeler visited Guilford's
Introduction to Environmental Stud
ies class. She explained that a large
focus of the group is about the health
risks posed by increased airport ac
tivity. She brought to the class sev
eral reports of increased respiratory
illness and cancer risk in areas near
.
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Advocaiesonn©
boom for the area Those who oppose ftdorxDtwxitthe added noise
from and deaeased water supply. Abo\A9 ( aplane at the PTIA gets de-iced.
played a role in
their decisions to
locate in the
Triad.
A former Air
port Authority
chairman also
backs the hub, sug
gesting that
Greensboro
should use its
February 16, 2001
airports, including Chicago's O'Hare
and airports that serve Minneapolis
and St. Paul, Minn., and Boston.
"In the Logan [Boston] airport,
asthma and allergies were twice as
common in the most affected [near
est the airport] areas as compared
to the least affected areas." She
noted that the toxic emissions from
aircraft aren't regulated by the gov
ernment, as automobile emissions
are.
The Piedmont Quality of Life
Coalition is also troubled with safety.
According to their website,
www.pqlc.org, FedEx experienced at
least six plane crashes in 1998 and
at least one more in the past year.
The coalition's concern is that the
Triad's airport is in a densely resi
dential area.
There are also complaints about
the de-icing chemicals regularly
used by planes. These chemicals are
used not only in wintertime, since
planes routinely travel into the cold
atmosphere. The wings are coated
with these toxic substances before
takeoff, and the material falls back
to the ground as the plane flies.
Water quality all around the area
The Guilfordian
c/o Student Activities
5800 W. Friendly Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27410
could suffer with the increased ex
posure to de-icing chemicals, which
in turn would pose a risk not only
human health, but also to other spe
cies dependent upon the water.
The FedEx hub would require
300 additional acres of pavement, the
size of 238 football fields. This in
cludes 200 truck stalls, space for 70
FedEx planes, and 2,400 employee
parking spaces. The third runway
requires 32 more acres. Opponents
argue that this much pavement
would deplete that already scarce
supply of groundwater for the region.
Water quality could also suffer
from the 23 acres of wetland and
1,500 feet of stream destruction nec
essary for the hub project, though the
Airport Authority states that it can
build more new wetland than it will
Please see FedEx, page 2.
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