Wednesday, March 13, 2002
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Wednesday, March 13, 2002 |
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Hartsfield, EPD enter consent agreement over deicing spill Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division have executed a consent agreement to address the state's concerns resulting from the Jan. 3 release of aircraft deicing fluid into the Flint River. The spill of thousands of gallons of deicing fluid has been blamed for a sweet smell that Fayette residents complained of in the county water in January and February. The new agreement, which will take effect immediately, is an effort to better protect the Airport community environment, according to Ben DeCosta, Atlanta's aviation general manager. "We have worked closely with EPD staff over the past four weeks to develop an agreement ensuring that a release such as what occurred during early January does not happen again," said DeCosta. "We have implemented and will continue implementing additional measures to protect the Flint River and downstream water supplies," he added. Last month, the airport spent nearly $150,000 to construct a back-up collection system, to determine why its deicing fluid collection system malfunctioned, and to clean and repair the system, DeCosta said. Starting Feb. 5, Hartsfield environmental officials took the following steps: Built a piping system that allows the airport to increase the capacity of the deicing fluid collection system by pumping the fluid into tanker trucks if necessary; Implemented a new, gate deicing policy for aircraft, which restricts deicing aircraft at gates to specific winter weather conditions; Developed specific operation and maintenance procedures for the existing deicing fluid collection system; Identified tasks for closer coordination of deicing activities with airlines during the winter weather. Hartsfield officials will continue to work closely with the EPD on environmental issues, DeCosta said.
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