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Aug. 24, 2021 12:57PM EST
FAA offers $20.4 million in grants to airports for using zero-emissions vehicles
The FAA is announcing $20.4 million in grants to airports for using zero-emissions vehicles and electrifying equipment that currently relies on fossil fuels.
Why it matters: While next-wave, future aviation/aircraft tech gets lots of attention, nuts and bolts equipment at airports is decidedly low-tech (think diesel generators and dirty shuttle buses) and ripe for the deployment of existing and mature low-emissions systems.
Driving the news: The funding announcement Tuesday, provided first to Axios, is part of $300 million being spent on zero-emissions and electrification projects out of the FAA’s $3.5 billion airport grant program for 2021, an FAA spokesperson told Axios via email.
The big picture: Modern airports, at least in the U.S., still use antiquated technology to service aircraft and move people and luggage around.
- Airports are sizable sources of smog-forming emissions and greenhouse gases, and also have environmental justice implications.
Details: Per FAA, this year the administration has awarded grants to 56 airports to purchase zero-emission vehicles and for electrification projects, using money from the American Rescue Plan and preexisting grant programs.
By the numbers: Within the round announced today is $5.9 million for zero-emission vehicle purchases, which includes:
- $3.9 million for the purchase of a fleet of five 35-foot electric shuttle buses at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
- $1 million for a 35-foot electric shuttle bus and charging station at John Wayne Airport, Orange County in California.
Today’s grants also include $14.5 million to reduce airport and ramp equipment emissions, such as:
- $4.6 million to purchase and install 18 pre-conditioned air units at Pittsburgh International Airport. These are used to provide temperature-controlled air inside a plane when the plane’s own power systems are off.
- $3.9 million will go to San Diego International Airport to buy and install 39 charging stations to charge up electric ground support equipment that service aircraft in between their flights.
Funds will also help airports purchase electric mobile ground power units that help run a plane’s electrical equipment.
- Money for these will go to Fort Wayne International Airport in Indiana, Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif., and St. Louis Lambert International Airport, among others.
Yes, but: Focusing grant programs on zero-emissions technologies and rewiring airport infrastructure could pay off by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and smog-forming pollutants, but it will take a lot more money on a faster timeline to make a difference when viewed across the growing aviation sector.
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Jul. 23, 2021 10:00AM EST
What it's like to hail an air taxi from Blade
The future of urban air mobility is a lot closer than you think and could start changing the way cities work in just a few years.
The big picture: As roads get ever more congested, transportation is moving to the skies. Electric flying taxis will zip over choked highways, ferrying passengers among a network of "vertiports" around the city. From there, passengers can walk or use another mode of transportation to get to their final destination.
I got a glimpse of the future this week on a quick day trip to New York, where I tried out Blade Urban Air Mobility's helicopter service from Manhattan to JFK Airport.
- The trip — five minutes in the air, and 20 minutes to curbside at my terminal — cost $195.
- That compares to the one hour and 13 minutes it would have taken midday in an Uber, which quoted me a fare of $111 (or $142 for an Uber Black car).
How it works: The booking process on Blade's website or app is simple and straightforward. I typed in what time I wanted to arrive at the airport and it scheduled my seat on the appropriate helicopter.
- The Blade West lounge — in a trailer next to the Hudson River at 30th Street and 12th Avenue — isn't impressive from the street, but inside, there's everything you'd expect in a VIP lounge.
- When it was time to board, the Blade staff escorted me and another passenger to the whirring chopper, where we buckled into our leather seats, put on headsets and took off.
- We headed south over the Hudson, around the tip of Manhattan, and then flew over Brooklyn to Queens, where we landed at the Sheltair general aviation facility at JFK.
- I was escorted off the helicopter to a waiting Cadillac Escalade, where the driver already had my flight information and took me straight to my terminal.
My thought bubble: The Blade flight was both spectacular and sobering. The stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty were obscured by smoke from the wildfires out West that scientists have linked to human-caused climate change.
- Electrifying transportation — cars, buses, trucks and even aviation — is more urgent than ever.
What's next: A day after my flight, I called Blade CEO Rob Wiesenthal for his take on the transformation of urban mobility.
- "It's becoming City 2.0," he told me. "Right now, we're thinking about what is New York going to look like five years from now?"
- Perhaps as early as 2024, he says, the helicopters that Blade flies today will start to be replaced by a new type of electric vertical aircraft that is lightweight, quiet and emission-free.
- Looking a bit like oversized drones, they mimic choppers on takeoff and landing, but then fly more like a typical airplane.
- Companies developing these aircraft like Joby, Wisk and Lilium say they'll be cheaper to build and operate, making urban air mobility more affordable for everyone.
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Jul. 10, 2021 11:00AM EST
Educators and activists fight back against the efforts to limit discussions about anti-racism
Teachers and civil rights activists are organizing and preparing to go to court to stop conservatives' efforts to block curriculum about institutional racism.
Why it matters: "It is the modern-day Scopes trial," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tells Axios, recalling the 1925 case over teaching evolution.
- Legislators in nearly half of U.S. states in recent months have passed or introduced proposals to constrain lessons about how racism has shaped the nation's history and political and economic systems.
- Conservative groups also are driving recall campaigns against school board members around the U.S.
Driving the news: Weingarten said her union will defend teachers' right to teach American history — and will aggressively protect any educator accused of violating such new laws and restrictions.
- "We're looking at court actions because these laws conflict with standards and our licensure requirements and our professional obligations," she said.
- Union delegates with the National Education Association earlier this month voted to expand the teaching of anti-racism and diversity in American classrooms, despite the growing backlash.
- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 79 other civil rights and education groups recently released a statement calling anti-racism classroom lessons a student right needing to be defended.
The big picture: This backlash against critical race theory comes as school systems grow more diverse and many parents welcome more diverse curriculums.
- The popularity of The New York Times' 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones, which examined the history of slavery and its lasting impact in the U.S., also sparked conservative anger.
The other side: Citizens for Renewing America, a group led by a White House budget director under former President Trump, offers activists model legislation to craft bans on critical race theory in their states. Teachers also are facing threats of firing for introducing anti-racism lessons.
- At least 51 local recall efforts involving K-12 school boards have been initiated this year in reaction to critical race theory and COVID-19 closures.
- Critics of critical race theory are suggesting long-time popular children's books and novels regularly listed high school reading are dangerous now.
- Idaho state lawmaker Heather Scott cited the 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee as evidence that critical race theory was "creeping through our schools."
- A group of white parents in Tennessee claimed "Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story,” by Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana, was anti-American (and) anti-white.”
Reality check: Critical race theory — which holds that racism is baked into the formation of the nation and ingrained in our legal, financial, and education systems — was developed in law schools in the 1970s and isn't really taught in grade school.
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Jun. 25, 2021 07:55PM EST
Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for murder of George Floyd
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison on Friday by a Minnesota judge for the murder of George Floyd.
State of play: The sentence from Judge Peter Cahill is about in line with what most legal experts expected. Prosecutors had asked for 30 years.
- Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, had argued that his client should only receive probation as he was part of a "broken system."
- Floyd's daughter, 7-year-old Gianna Floyd, his nephew Brandon Williams, his brothers Terrance and Philonise Floyd all read victim statements prior to the sentencing.
- "I miss you and I love you," Gianna said, via video, when asked what she would say to her father.
- "We don't want to see more slaps on the wrist," Terrance Floyd said, while asking for the maximum sentence.
The backdrop: A presumptive sentence for second-degree murder under Minnesota's guidelines called for 12.5 years, though the maximum for the charge is 40 years.
- Since Cahill found four aggravating factors in Floyd's murder, he could depart from those guidelines.
Worth noting: In Minnesota, it's presumptive that prisoners with a good behavioral record will only spend two-thirds of their sentence behind bars — with the rest on parole.
No surprise: Chauvin spoke very briefly own behalf but did not give a full formal statement due to "some additional legal matters."
- "I'm not able to give a full formal statement at this time...I do want to give my condolences to the Floyd family," he said. "There's going to be some other information in the future that would be of interest, and I hope things will give you some peace of mind. Thank you."
- Legal experts said it could have hurt him in his appeal of the verdict — and some wondered how much it would sway Cahill.
- Chauvin's mother Carolyn Pawlenty spoke in court on behalf of the family.
- "I believe a lengthy sentence will not serve Derek well," she said. "When you sentence my son, you will also be sentencing me."
What's next: Chauvin's sentencing is nowhere near the end of the legal road for those involved in Floyd's murder.
- Chauvin has 90 days to appeal the decision — a move he and his defense are team are sure to make. The Minnesota Court of Appeals will then have a year to decide to affirm or overturn the conviction.
- Chauvin and the three other former officers present for Floyd's murder, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, are also facing federal civil rights charges.
- The criminal trial for the three other ex-cops is scheduled for March.
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