Edinburgh airport: runway climate change

It’s official now. Whilst BAA are busying themselves with "community consultations" regarding Edinburgh airport expansion, Ryanair have been signing the contracts and smoothing the runways for their expansion in 2008-9. Last week the BBC News reported that Ryanair is investing £70 million in expansion at Edinburgh airport over the coming year.

I imagine the communities around the airport, in the pathway of the runways and the pollution, have been notified. The announcement included the aim of creating 1,200 new jobs. But for those who cringe upon hearing well-rehearsed company lines of ‘economic boost’ without any thought on social and environmental implications these arguments may not sit comfortably. Indeed, for all those who hold any stake in the health of Scotland, what we are left thinking is this:

"Has this surprise expansion had any noteworthy consultation with local communities at all? Have noise and air pollution levels have been factored into general health levels of those struggling to exist in the shadows of the airport? And, significantly, will these 1,200 jobs last the long-haul? Or will these workers, as with all employed in high emission industries, be denied the opportunity to unionise and fight for survival as all must in increasingly unstable high-emission industries?"

On the economic standpoint, Sean Coyle, Ryanair’s director, reminds us that "our 19 routes will deliver significant economic benefits for Edinburgh by capitalising on Scotland's huge tourism potential and making it cheaper and easier than ever before to get here." Friends of the Earth (FOE), the world’s largest environmental network, disagrees: "Such figures which profess massive increase in the economy when expansion arises are often conservative in their estimates, assuming that inward and outward travel will increase simultaneously." Based on these conservative estimates, between 2004 and 2020, FOE state that "Scotland will have a tourism expenditure deficit of £32 billion, and annually this will equate to a loss of £2600 million a year."

And the painful truth doesn't stop there. What Ryanair has failed to address is nothing less than the biggest threat facing humanity today - climate change. Whilst the fares for sustainable travel options go through the roof, the aviation industry in Britain receives a tax break to the tune of £10 billion per year. Ryanair, in bittersweet partnership with BAA, have also ignored aviation being the fastest growing sector of emissions in Scotland – a country whose biggest sector of emissions is predicted to be transport by 2015. With a looming, and heavily ambitious Scottish climate change bill aiming to reduce overall emissions by 80% on 1990 levels by 2050, these expansions plans will embarrassingly rock the boat, and most likely sink it.

The same political formation that is plunging the English 'democratic' system into horrific displays of collusion and bribery is also rearing its ugly head in Scotland. Just because government officials believe it acceptable to claim transparency in the Heathrow consultation process whilst concurrently collaborating with BAA, they may also believe it acceptable to destroy the villages around Edinburgh, from Kirkliston to Winchburg to Queensferry and District, through noise and air pollution. Indeed, the happy relationship of BAA/ Ryanair and the Scottish Executive may think nothing of further exposing already economically-deprived communities to increase risks of pollution and cancer, and forcing them out of their homes.

So what will Scotland do to address carbon emissions from aviation, the fastest growing contributor to carbon emissions?

The forecasted expansion in Scottish air transport, such like the news from Ryanair, from 14 million to 50 million passenger movements by 2030, will cause a massive rise in climate change emissions. Yet incredibly the scale of carbon emissions has been excluded from the (government) consultation so far. Scotland’s own Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has voiced its concerns over the rapid increases: "The government shows few signs of bringing forward policies that will address these issues, either in the short or the long term. On the contrary, the policies set out in the consultation exercise on regional airports are likely to exacerbate the problems."

In light of this, communities may like to take it upon themselves to mobilise and participate in the upcoming BAA Edinburgh consultations. They can arm themselves with the scientific knowledge of the world’s largest environmental networks and the most authoritative scientific communities, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Royal Commission.

For those who no longer believe all they read in the glossy BAA pamphlets and who are scratching around in the backyard looking for answers, the battle against climate change in Scotland may just be beginning. For there is a brighter side to the amount of money and energy the carbon-emitting establishments are pouring in to manage 'public opinion'. It suggests a very valid fear of public opinion. If the villages affected by Heathrow expansion in England can become nothing short of a force to be reckoned with then surely the same can happen in Scotland.