U.S. Airports turn to BIL for Funding Needs
The infrastructure law is helping airports benefit from terminal projects that — among other things — increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
By Jim Tise, FAA
The FAA is helping U.S. airports “green” their operations with greenbacks from the country’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
The FAA has announced nearly $3 billion in BIL funding for more than three hundred airport terminal projects over the past three years. Among the considerations to apply for BIL dollars is the need to address environmental concerns: Increasing energy efficiency and addressing resiliency and aging infrastructure to reduce carbon footprints. And the FAA is prepared to award even more funding in the next two years.
“There is excitement to have a funding stream specific to … making improvements to terminals and project components that reduce emissions,” said Jean Wolfers-Lawrence, manager of the FAA Office of Airport’s environmental branch.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response given the number of applications we’ve received under the Airport Terminal Program,” said Jesse Carriger, who manages the FAA’s BIL program for the FAA. “It shows the need is out there in the system.”
The FAA for decades has been helping fund airports’ airside projects — such as building new runways and taxiways, extending current runways, purchasing snow removal equipment, etc. — through its Airport Improvement Program (AIP).
The BIL grant programs also provide airport infrastructure funds ($3 billion per year over five years), but complements that with funding from the airport terminal and federal contract tower programs, which have broader eligibility than the annual AIP. BIL benefits are spread across the airports spectrum — from the largest facilities to the smallest general aviation fields.
BIL funding is “extremely important” for a mid-size hub such as Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, explained Luis Faure, chief infrastructure officer.
The $5 million in BIL funding it has received will help the airport install a 2-megawatt photo-voltaic array structure to supply a sustainable and resilient power source to one of its terminals. On an island with a shaky power grid that faces hurricane threats annually, the need for reliable power is paramount.
The array will also help the airport reduce its carbon footprint by approximately 2,000 metric tons per year, which makes it “extremely sustainable and environmentally friendly,” said Faure.
A solar canopy project at Killeen Regional Airport in Texas had been in planning for five years, but financing fell through for various reasons. That is until BIL funding became available.
The $5 million BIL grant will help the airport replace its terminal lighting with LED lights and construct solar-integrated covered parking in the car rental area, as well as a portion of the short-term parking lot. The project will also provide a covered walkway canopy from the terminal building to the car rental area.
This project will increase the airport’s resiliency in a climate where 100-degree temperatures and “hellatious hailstorms” are not uncommon. It will cut the airport’s energy consumption by 3.3 million kilowatt hours per year, which will significantly reduce carbon and air pollution emissions.
“We’re very thankful to the FAA and Congress,” said Mike Wilson, executive director for aviation at Killeen. “Without that BIL funding, there’s a lot of needed infrastructure that we probably would not have been able to do otherwise.”
Even a larger airport such as Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, the home base of international shipper UPS, is struggling to meet rising customer demands.
“Our growth has been phenomenal,” said Dan Mann, the airport’s executive director. “We’re now able to try to catch up with our growth and demand. It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, without BIL dollars.”
Louisville is using $5.5 million in BIL grants to construct a microgrid project that drastically improves sustainability and resiliency with a system incorporating multiple utility sources, diesel generators, photovoltaic generation, battery-based energy storage, and a centralized backup generator plant facility. The microgrid is expected to cut an estimated 68 tons of CO2 emissions each year.
Des Moines International Airport in Iowa is experiencing its own growth demands to the point where “if we cannot accommodate the market and the business community, we become an economic hurdle and our economy will slow down,” explained Kevin Foley, executive director of the airport.
Des Moines is all-in on an environmental approach to constructing its new $445 million terminal, with $24.3 million in funding coming through BIL’s airport terminal program.
It hopes to divert 50–75 percent of materials from the demolished old terminal to other uses. New bathrooms will be fitted with low-flow faucets and toilets. In anticipation of ground service vehicles going all-electric, the airport is installing electric charging stations at each gate. Landscaping will emphasize native plants that don’t require irrigation after the first year or two. Carbon footprint reductions are estimated at a substantial 37 percent.
“It’s the first time in history that we’ve had money available to go specially into terminals,” said Foley. “We would not have been able to accomplish this project without BIL funding.”
The wide-ranging scope of projects that are advancing under the Airport Terminal Program is indicative of the need for — and success of — the BIL legislation. The FAA has worked hand-in-hand with airports to prioritize their projects to best leverage the grant funding available.
Having streamlined the process over the past three years, the FAA’s Carriger sees the Airport Terminal Program rising to new heights. “As the BIL grant programs mature, [the FAA] expects requests for funding to increase this year as airports prepare projects to move toward implementation,” he said.
