Vermont Air National Guard Commanders reject Burlington City Council Resolution seeking to halt the Guard's CO2 Emissions at BTV
The City Council has the power to push back against the Guard; in fact it has the power, on its own, to prohibit all gas-guzzling aircraft, including the F-35
On Monday, July 24, the Burlington City Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for eliminating Vermont Air National Guard emissions at Burlington International Airport (BTV) by 2030. The Guard’s daily training with twenty F-35 jets, each burning 22 gallons of jet fuel during every minute of flight, accounts for a massive amount of planet-killing greenhouse emissions at the airport. The resolution was introduced by the Council’s Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee (TEUC).
A spirited rally outside City Hall preceded the council meeting that featured speakers from a dozen sponsoring organizations. Then, at the public forum portion of the council meeting, some 40 members of the public spoke [starts at 33:00] calling on the Council to vote for the resolution to stop F-35 emissions. And to oppose a $40 million dollar proposal of further investment in the tree-burning McNeil Generating Station.
The F-35 emissions resolution asks the Air Force, the Vermont Air National Guard, the Governor, and the Adjutant General to work with the Airport Director and the City Council’s Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee to draft a specific plan to eliminate Vermont Air National Guard greenhouse gas emissions at Burlington Airport by 2030.
However, Air Guard commanders had issued a statement to a reporter for WPTZ in advance of the council vote nixing the idea: "The agency is committed to the execution of both our federal and state missions while working cooperatively with the airport authority and our local communities. We are aware of the resolution and will remain focused on our responsibilities independent of the result."
The commanders do not accept any portion of the unanimously adopted city council resolution. Their statement means:
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on continuing the F-35 training flights at BTV.
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on ignoring the October 7, 2021 statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, that “Climate change is an existential threat to our nation’s security, and the Department of Defense must act swiftly and boldly to take on this challenge.”
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on ignoring the statement by the Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall that the Air Force must “recognize and reduce the department’s role in contributing to climate change.”
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on ignoring the Air Force statement in its Climate Action Plan that “recognizes that we are contributing to global climate change. The department is responsible for the largest portion of Department of Defense’s (DoD) greenhouse gas emissions,” that “aviation fuel and energy to power aircraft comprises over 80 percent of the department’s energy use,” and the “reduction of fuel use offers the most significant opportunity to optimize our operational capability while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on ignoring the will of the people of Burlington who voted at town meeting in 2018 to cancel the F-35 in order to have a city free of its extreme 115-decibel noise among other problems. Now that vote is all the more compelling in view of the extreme danger to city, state, and planet from the F-35 greenhouse gas emissions.
Vermont Air National Guard commanders will remain focused on ignoring their own discipline that requires them to conduct training in a manner that protects civilians and civilian property.
The rejection of the resolution by commanders raises a new question for Burlington City Councilors: Will you accept the rejection or will you push back? And you can push back using the city’s power as airport owner.
The FAA authorizes airport proprietors to take action for safety at their airport and strongly encourages them to do so
City Councilors are well aware of their power to use the City’s FAA-delegated authority as airport proprietor to take immediate action to protect public safety.
FAA grant assurances implement that FAA-delegated authority. They say:
22. Economic Nondiscrimination.
Under this FAA-delegated authority, the City can adopt an ordinance establishing a fuel efficiency standard applicable to all aircraft using BTV. By setting a reasonable fuel efficiency standard, airport users, including all the commercial airlines that fly highly fuel-efficient passenger airliners will continue to fly from BTV without any interruption, while all those who fly aircraft that fail to meet that standard, including the Vermont Air National Guard, would have to substitute aircraft that meets the fuel-efficiency standard if they wish to continue to use BTV.
Protecting safety requires no elaborate process for the city. Under the power already in the hands of the Burlington City Council, agreement by anyone else is not needed. Nor does the Council need to wait until more damage is done by BTV greenhouse gas emissions. The council can exercise its power now by passing an ordinance to put an immediate stop to all the gas-guzzling aircraft currently using the city’s airport.
Public safety urgently demands this action by the council. The city has the power. The only question is whether the city will use its power by enacting an ordinance to protect the public.
In the aftermath of a massive flood and in the face of ongoing carcinogenic forest-fire smoke, toxic algae in the lake, and tick-borne disease all over Vermont, and growing, no delay is acceptable.
Training flights by the Vermont Air National Guard with an aircraft that burns 22 gallons per minute for hundreds of hours each month poses a clear and present danger to life and property in Vermont and on the rest of the planet.
The authority given under FAA regulations to take prompt action to protect public safety includes a responsibility to use that authority when needed. It is needed now.
Given the rejection of the resolution by Guard Commanders, the City must set an aircraft fuel efficiency standard, such as 50 passenger-miles per gallon (and the equivalent in ton-miles per gallon for cargo aircraft). Doing so is essential to demonstrate a city council serious about implementing its declaration of climate emergency and serious about protecting public health and safety.
Write or call your public servants and demand an immediate halt to F-35 training in cities.
Governor Phil Scott 802-828-3333 Chief of Staff <Jason.Gibbs@vermont.gov>
Submit your report & complaint to the online F-35 Report & Complaint Form: https://tinyurl.com/5d89ckj9
See all the graphs and in-your-own words statements on the F-35 Spring-Summer 2021 Report & Complaint Form (513 responses): https://tinyurl.com/3svacfvx.
See links to the graphs and in-your-own words statements on all four versions of the F-35 Report & Complaint Form since Spring 2020, with a total of 1670 responses from 658 different people plus 77 more so far on the form that remains active now.
Senator Bernie Sanders 800-339-9834 <Senator@sanders.senate.gov>
Senator Peter Welch 888-605-7270 Chief of Staff <patrick.satalin@mail.house.gov>
Rep. Becca Balint <RepBeccaBalint@mail.house.gov>
Burlington City Council <citycouncil@burlingtonvt.gov>
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger <mayor@burlingtonvt.gov>
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott <klott@winooskivt.org>
S. Burlington City Council Chair Helen Riehle <hriehle@sburl.com>
Williston Selectboard Chair Terry Macaig <macaig@msn.com>
VT Senate President Philip Baruth <Philip.Baruth@uvm.edu>
VT House Speaker Jill Krowinski <jkrowinski@leg.state.vt.us>
Attorney General Charity Clark <Charity.Clark@vermont.gov>
States Attorney Sarah George <Sarah.fair.george@gmail.com>
Vermont’s Federal Prosecutor <usavt.contactus1@usdoj.gov>
Adjutant General Brig Gen Gregory C Knight <gregory.c.knight.mil@mail.mil>
Major J Scott Detweiler <john.s.detweiler.mil@mail.mil>
Wing Commander Col Dan Finnegan <daniel.finnegan@mail.mil>
Vermont National Guard Inspector General Lt. Col. Edward J Soychak <edward.soychak@us.af.mil>
US Air Force Inspector General Lt. Col. Pamela D. Koppelmann <pamela.d.koppelmann.mil@mail.mil>
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall <Frank.Kendall@us.af.mil>
When dealing with the Vermont Air National Guard, what is essential to demonstrate the Burlington city council is serious about implementing its declaration of climate emergency as well as protecting public health and safety is an enforcement mechanism.
A constitution message for domestic tranquility could help. Is Lockheed Martin a union shop?