The
Toronto Port Authority, long portrayed as an environmental villain by Toronto island residents opposed to its operation of an airport on the Toronto waterfront, has announced an ambitious program of green improvements, part of a $16 million infrastructure spending initiative.
Headlines last week in the daily papers brought news of the TPA's
plan to construct a pedestrian tunnel from the Toronto mainland to the airport -- contentious because of previous, thwarted plans to
build a bridge. But buried in the news cycle was the
announcement that all of the TPA's operations will be powered by renewable energy bought through a partnership with Bullfrog Power.
On the enviro front, the federal government agency responsible for Toronto's port further plans to invest $1 million in creating fish habitat, making a change to green lubricants for servicing all its machinery and vigilantly enforcing anti-idling laws. It's a small part of
$16 million in capital expenditures in this year's TPA budget that includes resurfacing runways, constructing a sound barrier and upgrading equipment. The changes anticipate a growth in air traffic at the airport of over 35 per cent.
Community AIR, an activist group who have long opposed the TPA and the island airport, maintains the position that "a large, polluting airport within two kilometres of the city downtown will ruin the quality of life of all Torontonians."�
TPA president Geoffrey A. Wilson says the TPA is listening. "I respect the issue Community AIR is putting forward and to the extent that they're factually based, we try to address them. We have a mandate to be environmentally conscious .... and these environmental initiatives stem from our desire to be a good neighbour.
Wilson says the projects accompanying the airport's "unquestionable growth" are creating many jobs directly through Porter airlines and through its own hiring, but said it was hard to put a number of how many jobs would be created.
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Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Geoffrey A. Wilson, President and CEO, Toronto Port Authority