Editor's note: The live discussion has been archived in its entirety. It contains some opinion-based commentary. To help listeners better understand the issue and the ballot initiatives, reporter Josie Taris has provided corrections to inaccurate or misleading information. Click here for the video and audio of the live discussion.
25:02 Amory Lovins says, “It's also worth noting that the private planes are projected by the county to grow about twice as fast as the airline planes. We are projected by the county, FAA approved to have 31% more airline passengers and an unknown and unknowable number of additional private passengers”
This statement needs context. The forecasted changes are to take place over 20 years.
29:16 Torre says, “There are people there, but I don't remember anybody coming out of the visioning committee going, 'you know, what we need is bigger planes.' This came back to us from the FAA. This was not the community's intention through the visioning committee.”
The common ground recommendations, the product of the Vision Committee, include the widened runway and identify the A220-100 as the ideal aircraft for Aspen, with a 115-foot wingspan.
32:35 Jacque Francis says, “The E175 is it's a sidestep. I'm really concerned with local pollutants and climate pollutants, and this is not an improvement, and the noise factor is also not an improvement.”
The E175 is a small improvement on per passenger NOX emissions compared to the CRJ700, according to county consultant Jacobsen Daniels.
44:58 Amory Lovins says, “What they actually say is you cannot unjustly discriminate. There are many ways you can influence who flies what here. One of the most interesting of our dozen essays the county hasn't responded to is about a whole bunch of very promising policy instruments and fiscal instruments the county could use that do not violate that FAA stricture."
John Bauer said at the April 2023 meeting that the FAA knows that ASE can widen the runway, so they require it in an ALP.