Has anyone done environmental impact studies comparing a major renovation at Kansas City International Airport to tearing down at least two terminals and building a new one from the ground-up? There is a section in the RFP on sustainability but it does not seem to afford the opportunity to find a more sustainable solution by sustaining the existing structures. Nor can I find anything about environmental contingencies should there be asbestos or other issues. Peak asbestos use in the U.S. was around the time KCI opened.
The last time I recall “EPA” being mentioned in the KCI conversation was when Steve Vockrodt, then at the Pitch, uncovered the fact that the environmental issues cited by the Aviation Department in their pitch for a single terminal were untrue.
In light of Mayor James’ signing yesterday of the Climate Mayors’ pledge to uphold the Paris climate accord goals, it seemed like a good time to ask the question.
Despite the expressed preference of the people of Kansas City to retain the existing user-friendly airport structure, we continue to see the government-industrial juggernaut rolling and gathering momentum for the billion dollar boondoggle of building a new airport. We’re not going to talk the leadership out of this. The writing is on the wall that the people will have to vote on this, and soon. What is being done to organize a PR campaign to vote down this nonsense? Is there a committee or working group? Is there a fund raising effort to put together a war chest for media placements? What can I and other concerned citizens do to help?
I don’t understand what nonsense and concerns you are talking about. Whoever does this project will be subject to the same environmental regulations as anyone else. We are talking about operating the equivalent of a 1970s town car vs a new modern car. Efficiency of HVAC will be higher, time at the terminals will be reduced making the planes more efficient, pedestrian traffic will be routes more efficiently, traffic patterns will be safer by not mixing commercial vehicles with incoming and departing traffic. If you are concerned with environmental impact at this stage of a project you don’t understand the life cycle of major Design-Build projects.