Southwest Austin - Dripping Springs Edition | April 2022

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East Austin jet fuel storagemoves forward AUSTIN An eort to pause progress on a jet fuel facility at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport failed April 7, clearing the way for the development of a site o US 183 to proceed. an eort to step back and re-evaluate the project was led in recent months by Fuentes, community activists and environmental groups, and East Austin residents including airport neighbors. BY BEN THOMPSON

JET FUEL RESET VOTED DOWN City Council denied a plan to consider other locations for a new 10.5-acre jet fuel storage facility April 7 amid pushback from residents. Current facility Proposed new facility

The April vote came after council heard dozens of comments from those generally opposed to the plan and took up an extended discussion on the merits of Fuentes’ proposal. Concerns from the community centered on a lack of notication or opportunity for engagement about the proposal during its development as well as potential health and safety risks associated with a new fuel tank farm. That topic also echoed the community-led eort of the 1990s to shutter a toxic tank farm at Airport Boulevard and Springdale Road that contaminated the surrounding area and aected the health of area residents. “We don’t want to see the harm come again to this particular community, because you start o with one tank, two tanks, three tanks, four tanks. That’s what’s proposed, and as the airport grows, so will the tank farm,” said Suzana Almanza, executive director of People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources. Speaking to community complaints that the project furthers environmental racism on the east side, neighborhood representative Daniel Llanes

Airport ocials say the planned facility, which became a contentious issue in the community in recent months, is necessary to keep pace with travel demand. Aviation CEO Jacqueline Yaft said the airport keeps just one to three days of fuel on hand, well below an industry standard of ve to seven days. If storage capacity is not expanded as planned, Yaft said, airlines could face logistical struggles and 80-plus ights could be forced to bring extra fuel into town every day. With a 5-5 vote, City Council shot down a measure from District 2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes that would have halted the airport’s plans for an expanded fuel storage complex and started a new search for alternative sites. The resolution from Fuentes would have also required additional environmental reviews and community engage- ment for the project, which ocials have said is an essential piece of long-term expansion plans to support the airport’s—and region’s—rapid growth. While plans to bring several new fuel tanks to the airport’s western edge were nalized years ago,

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AUSTINBERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

said the city’s plans represent “two steps forward, one step back.” Resident Rocio Villalobos said the project’s environmental reviews did not properly consider how it might aect neighboring homes and businesses, many of which are located just several hundred feet from the proposed tanks. ”How can an environmental impact assessment that’s measuring impact in areas like culture and environmental justice be determined without any public participation?” she said.

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