DFW Airport partners with EPA to reduce pollution

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is the newest partner to join a national effort led by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce harmful chemicals.

As part of the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities, the airport pledges to reduce 940 pounds of pendimethalin and trifluralin found in herbicides used to treat airport grounds.

“Reducing hazardous pollutants is good for the environment, good for business and good for our quality of life,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene. “By joining this program, DFW Airport is helping change our environment for the better, while also inspiring other facilities to do the same.”

The National Partnership for Environmental Priorities consists of both public and private organizations that work with EPA to reduce the use or release of 31 priority chemicals beyond what is legally required. Reduction of these chemicals is important because of their ability to build up in the environment, causing harm to humans and the ecosystem.

DFW will cut its priority chemical use through the efforts of its Grounds Maintenance team, which will replace their current herbicide with one that contains less or no pendimethalin and trifluralin.

“We are proud to embark upon this partnership with the EPA to reduce Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s environment footprint,” said Dan Bergman, Vice President, Environmental Affairs Department, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. “As an advocate for the principles of environmental stewardship, DFW Airport requires adoption and integration of sound environmental principles and practices into all aspects of our organization.”

More than 130 partners across the nation have joined the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program, which has set a goal to work with industry and the public to reduce the use or release of four million pounds of priority chemicals by 2011. DFW is one of only four airports nationwide to join the NPEP program. It is also the first Texas airport to be admitted into EPA’s prestigious National Environmental Performance Track program for superior environmental performers and is an EPA partner in the Blue Skyways Collaborative, which works to reduce air pollution in the central United States.