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September, 2012:

Don’t mention Heathrow

Although the Airport Authority announced on Wednesday it would look into ways to evaluate the social and environmental impact of the planned third runway, this will do little to allay the suspicions of green groups. They believe the authority does not want to carry out a proper social return on investment study (SROI) out of concern that it could sink the runway project. The authority’s initial position was that it would obey the law and pursue the environmental impact assessment process.

After the Legislative Council’s environmental affairs panel unanimously called on the authority to conduct an SROI study in April, it responded that there was no accepted international methodology for conducting such a study. It was recently supported in this view by the Transport and Housing Bureau in an e-mail to the green groups: “As we have explained before, SROI is an evaluation tool rooted in the charity sector and is commonly used to evaluate the value of community projects competing for government or charity funding. We also understand that there is no commonly adopted methodology or standards for conducting SROI analysis and that no developed country adopts SROI analysis as general requirement for assessing infrastructure project proposals.”

Unfortunately there was one very significant SROI study, concluded in April 2010, that ironically concerned plans to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, which can hardly be described as a charity or community funding. The study concluded that the social and economic impact of the airport on Britain would be a loss of £5 billion (HK$62.6 billion), compared with the government’s estimates of a £5.5 billion gain. Unsurprisingly, the Hong Kong government and the Airport Authority aren’t keen to dwell on this report and particularly its outcome. The authority has been keen to play up the economic benefits, which it claims amount to HK$900 billion. A poll commissioned by WWF and Greenpeace found that 74 per cent of people were dissatisfied with the amount of information the authority had provided on the social and environmental aspect of the project.

Contact Us Have you got any stories that Lai See should know about? E-mail them to howard.winn@scmp.com [1]

Topics:

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Source URL (retrieved on Sep 21st 2012, 11:32pm): http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1041807/tech-analyst-henry-king-heads-goldmans-exit

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New step in fight against pollution promised soon

HK Standard

A strategy and goals to reduce cross- border air pollution in the next decade will be announced by the government soon, a top official said.

Mary Ann Benitez

Friday, September 21, 2012

A strategy and goals to reduce cross- border air pollution in the next decade will be announced by the government soon, a top official said.

Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing also said mechanisms will be reviewed on major polluters diesel cars and buses, power plants and ocean-going vessels.

Wong revealed this after meeting academics and green-group representatives at the Zero Carbon Building in Kowloon Bay yesterday.

He said the Hong Kong and Guangdong cooperation program to improve air quality has reached its final stage. “In the near future, we will announce the results of the past 10 years, and the next five years and the goals of the decade.”

The report will summarize to what extent the targets have been reached.

“In addition, based on the results of the past, we will review the policy, and then set out – for example in 2020, in 2015 – how to reduce pollution.”

Wong said policies on diesel vehicles and buses will be reviewed to see how to take forward initiatives on cleaner fuel and engines.

Responding to a Civic Exchange report that about 400 Hongkongers die from bunker-fueled ships, Wong said the government will launch an incentive scheme next week for ocean-going vessels to switch to low-sulfur fuel when berthed in Hong Kong.

“That’s the first step. We would like to see the situation and response, and in the long term we would see the whole area become a low-emission zone, and also if necessary we can have laws to enforce it,” he said.

Undersecretary for the Environment Christine Loh Kung-wai said: “What would be more ideal is if we can work with the Guangdong authorities to have the entire waters in the Pearl River Delta also declared a low-emission zone.” Friends of the Earth chief executive officer Chan May-ling said yesterday’s engagement exercise was a good opportunity for civil servants and government ministers to sit together with the academics and green groups.

“The secretary for the environment and the undersecretary walked the talk,” she said.

Loh, a former legislator who founded the policy think-tank Civic Exchange, was named to the post last week.

“The civil servants’ passion came out of the meeting,” she said. “They talked about how they would like things to move forward.”

Civic Exchange head of transport and sustainability research Simon Ng Ka- wing said: “We are concerned about the air quality objectives. We would like the government to progressively tighten the objectives along the World Health Organization’s standards.”

Airport Authority promises social impact study for third runway

Airport Authority to develop an approach ‘meaningful to local context’ – and says door to dialogue with conservationists remains open

  • ·        Thursday, 20 September, 2012, 12:00am
  • ·        Cheung Chi-fai chifai.cheung@scmp.com
  • ·

As the debate over a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport rages, the Airport Authority has agreed to carry out a social impact study. Photo: SCMP

The Airport Authority has bowed to pressure from green groups and agreed to carry out a social impact study on the planned third runway at Chek Lap Kok, as activists continue to snub meetings on the

controversial project.

But the airport operator has yet to specify what will be covered by the study, saying only that it will develop an approach “meaningful to local context and specific to the runway project”.

“We will devise the most appropriate method, looking at air, health or traffic congestion issues. We’ll adopt the best world practice too,” the authority’s executive director of business development,

Wilson Fung Wing-yip, said.

Fung did not give a timetable but said he believed the voluntary study would be done in parallel with the statutory environmental impact assessment of the project, which involves 650 hectares of reclamation from the sea.

Speaking to media yesterday, Fung said the social return on investment study carried out by the New Economics Foundation for the third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport – to put a monetary value on such social costs as noise, air pollution and congestion – could not be directly copied. Instead, he said, approaches used by the World Bank or the European Union to assess transport projects might be more relevant.

Fung also said it was “unfortunate” that none of the green groups invited to a meeting yesterday had shown up.

“They wanted to know in advance the outcome of the meeting, though we have provided them with a large amount of information beforehand,” he said, adding that the door to dialogue was still open.

WWF Hong Kong director of conservation Dr Andy Cornish said, however, that the conservationists had very clear demands for the study and the authority knew them well.

“The ball is in the authority’s court. They have to close the gap and regain the trust of green groups,” he said.

Cornish said a genuine social return on investment study should put emphasis on engaging those affected by asking people what was important to them.

But he did welcome the authority’s decision to assess the carbon emission of aircraft in order to seek accreditation by the Airports Council International by early next year.

Melonie Chau Yuet-cheung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth, said the meeting was snubbed because the groups and the authority could not agree what to discuss.

“We don’t want the agenda set and dominated by the authority,” she said. “We wanted to discuss the details of what a social impact study should be.”

Chau also asked whether the authority was using a delaying tactic by not committing to a clear timetable to complete the study. She would not rule out launching an unofficial social impact

study with other groups.

Green groups see red over runway snub

HK Standard

The Airport Authority has decided against embarking on a study to estimate the intangible social impact that a third runway will have on society, as demanded by environmental activists.

Kelly Ip

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Airport Authority has decided against embarking on a study to estimate the intangible social impact that a third runway will have on society, as demanded by environmental activists.

It will instead carry out a study according to World Bank and European Union standards to estimate the social and environmental impact of the runway.

That decision was to have been communicated to the activists in a meeting yesterday, but they saw red once they caught wind of what was in the air and refused to show up.

The study will be on top of the environmental impact assessment that is due to start this month.

The EIA is mandatory under the law to assess the effect of the runway on air quality, noise, marine ecology and fisheries and Chinese white dolphins.

Authority corporate development executive director Wilson Fung Wing-yip said the social return on the investment approach that green groups want adopted is mostly used for small-scale community or charity projects and unsuitable for large infrastructure developments.

“The methodology is usually used by volunteers and non-profit sectors and its indicators can be subjective,” said Fung, reiterating there is no single method for evaluating social and environmental impact.

Plans to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport were shelved in 2010 largely because a social return study showed that the impact on people living near the airport outweighed the economic benefits.

Fung said the authority believes the World Bank and European Union standards offer a more comprehensive assessment of the social and environment impact of the project.

In addition to air quality and noise, which will be covered in the EIA, the World Bank methodology also covers the impact on climate change, utility relocation, resettlements and accidents.

Fung said the authority will complete the study as well as the EIA in two years.

Greeners Action chief executive Angus Ho Hon-wai was among those furious with the decision.

“They are showing a lack of commitment to a wider public consultation and refusing to provide more concrete information,” said Ho, adding that his group is planning joint countermeasures with other green activists.

Friends of the Earth senior environmental affairs officer Melanie Chau Yuet-cheung said she fears the authority is refusing to commit to returning anything to community.

Airport Authority promises social impact study for third runway

Airport Authority to develop an approach ‘meaningful to local context’ – and says door to dialogue with conservationists remains open

  • ·        Thursday, 20 September, 2012, 12:00am

As the debate over a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport rages, the Airport Authority has agreed to carry out a social impact study. Photo: SCMP

The Airport Authority has bowed to pressure from green groups and agreed to carry out a social impact study on the planned third runway at Chek Lap Kok, as activists continue to snub meetings on the

controversial project.

But the airport operator has yet to specify what will be covered by the study, saying only that it will develop an approach “meaningful to local context and specific to the runway project”.

“We will devise the most appropriate method, looking at air, health or traffic congestion issues. We’ll adopt the best world practice too,” the authority’s executive director of business development,

Wilson Fung Wing-yip, said.

Fung did not give a timetable but said he believed the voluntary study would be done in parallel with the statutory environmental impact assessment of the project, which involves 650 hectares of reclamation from the sea.

Speaking to media yesterday, Fung said the social return on investment study carried out by the New Economics Foundation for the third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport – to put a monetary value on such social costs as noise, air pollution and congestion – could not be directly copied. Instead, he said, approaches used by the World Bank or the European Union to assess transport projects might be more relevant.

Fung also said it was “unfortunate” that none of the green groups invited to a meeting yesterday had shown up.

“They wanted to know in advance the outcome of the meeting, though we have provided them with a large amount of information beforehand,” he said, adding that the door to dialogue was still open.

WWF Hong Kong director of conservation Dr Andy Cornish said, however, that the conservationists had very clear demands for the study and the authority knew them well.

“The ball is in the authority’s court. They have to close the gap and regain the trust of green groups,” he said.

Cornish said a genuine social return on investment study should put emphasis on engaging those affected by asking people what was important to them.

But he did welcome the authority’s decision to assess the carbon emission of aircraft in order to seek accreditation by the Airports Council International by early next year.

Melonie Chau Yuet-cheung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth, said the meeting was snubbed because the groups and the authority could not agree what to discuss.

“We don’t want the agenda set and dominated by the authority,” she said. “We wanted to discuss the details of what a social impact study should be.”

Chau also asked whether the authority was using a delaying tactic by not committing to a clear timetable to complete the study. She would not rule out launching an unofficial social impact

study with other groups.

Airport Authority promises social impact study for third runway

Submitted by admin on Sep 20th 2012, 12:00am

News›Hong Kong

AVIATION

Cheung Chi-fai chifai.cheung@scmp.com

Airport Authority to develop an approach ‘meaningful to local context’ – and says door to dialogue with conservationists remains open

The Airport Authority has bowed to pressure from green groups and agreed to carry out a social impact study on the planned third runway at Chek Lap Kok, as activists continue to snub meetings on the controversial project.

But the airport operator has yet to specify what will be covered by the study, saying only that it will develop an approach “meaningful to local context and specific to the runway project”.

“We will devise the most appropriate method, looking at air, health or traffic congestion issues. We’ll adopt the best world practice too,” the authority’s executive director of business development, Wilson Fung Wing-yip, said.

Fung did not give a timetable but said he believed the voluntary study would be done in parallel with the statutory environmental impact assessment of the project, which involves 650 hectares of reclamation from the sea.

Speaking to media yesterday, Fung said the social return on investment study carried out by the New Economics Foundation for the third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport – to put a monetary value on such social costs as noise, air pollution and congestion – could not be directly copied. Instead, he said, approaches used by the World Bank or the European Union to assess transport projects might be more relevant.

Fung also said it was “unfortunate” that none of the green groups invited to a meeting yesterday had shown up.

“They wanted to know in advance the outcome of the meeting, though we have provided them with a large amount of information beforehand,” he said, adding that the door to dialogue was still open.

WWF Hong Kong director of conservation Dr Andy Cornish said, however, that the conservationists had very clear demands for the study and the authority knew them well.

“The ball is in the authority’s court. They have to close the gap and regain the trust of green groups,” he said.

Cornish said a genuine social return on investment study should put emphasis on engaging those affected by asking people what was important to them.

But he did welcome the authority’s decision to assess the carbon emission of aircraft in order to seek accreditation by the Airports Council International by early next year.

Melonie Chau Yuet-cheung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth, said the meeting was snubbed because the groups and the authority could not agree what to discuss. “We don’t want the agenda set and dominated by the authority,” she said. “We wanted to discuss the details of what a social impact study should be.”

Chau also asked whether the authority was using a delaying tactic by not committing to a clear timetable to complete the study. She would not rule out launching an unofficial social impact study with other groups.

Topics:

Baa Limitedscmp_04jul12_ns_airport14_nora0113a_29722549.jpg

London Borough of Hillingdon

Airport Authority


Source URL (retrieved on Oct 20th 2012, 6:44am): http://www.scmp.com/news/article/1040904/airport-authority-promises-social-impact-study-third-runway

‘Incinerators are junk and they kill’ – air pollution expert claims

www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org

Incinerators kill says toxicologist. Emissions from waste incinerators are to blame for child deaths, birth defects, increased cancer rates and heart attacks, according to an air pollution expert who spoke at Hardwicke Village Hall on Wednesday, September 5. Stroud News and Journal, United Kingdom. 19 September 2012.

11:54am Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News By Chris Warne, SNJ reporter for Stonehouse and Chalford. Twitter @ChrisWarneSNJ

EMISSIONS from waste incinerators are to blame for child deaths, birth defects, increased cancer rates and heart attacks, according to an air pollution expert who spoke at Hardwicke Village Hall on Wednesday, September 5.

Retired GP Dr Dick van Steenis, who has spent 17 years working in toxicology, urged residents to ‘rise up’ and oppose plans for a £500 million incinerator at Javelin Park, near Haresfield.

He said lax regulations in the UK meant populations living downwind of the facilities were being exposed to hazardous levels of PM1 and PM2.5 particles, which he claims are responsible for causing premature infant deaths as well as a host of other illnesses and diseases.

Dr van Steenis, who in the past has given evidence to a House of Commons select committee on air quality, said incinerator operators are putting ‘company profits before public health’ because they are burning waste at temperatures which are too low to fully break down refuse.

Alternative waste disposal technologies, like plasma arc gasification, treat waste at higher temperatures and are cheaper and cleaner, Dr van Steenis said.

“It is now up to the people to rise up and say enough is enough. We do not want any extra deaths. These incinerators are junk and they kill,” he said.

Dr van Steenis was invited to talk by parish councillors from Hardwicke and Quedgeley who are opposed to the incinerator.

Ian Butler, chairman of Hardwicke Parish Council, said he felt it was important that residents were given the opportunity to hear an alternative viewpoint on the issue.

The Health Protection Agency announced in January that it had commissioned a major new study to look at the potential threat incinerators posed to public health.

Preliminary results from that study are not due back until 2014 however – a year after building work is scheduled to start on the Javelin Park incinerator.

Cllr Stan Waddington, GCC cabinet champion for waste, said: “The Health Protection Agency’s position on energy from waste facilities is clear.

“Well run and regulated modern municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to public health. Energy from waste is a tried and tested technology and there are currently more than 350 operating throughout Europe.”

Javier Peiro, project director for Urbaser Balfour Beatty – the company hoping to build the plant – said: “We were disappointed that no representative was invited from UBB to provide a balanced discussion of the topics at the recent meeting.

“Dr van Steenis has raised his concerns at a number of public inquiries in the country where his evidence on health effects and alternative technologies has been considered but not accepted.

“All thermal treatment facilities, including energy from waste and gasification plants preferred by van Steenis, must comply with the same stringent emissions limits.

“Had we have been invited to Dr van Steenis’ presentation we would have been able to provide the alternative perspective on energy from waste, which is based on credible evidence rather than scaremongering.”

HK’s 3rd runway proposal to go the way of Heathrow’s?

Sunday, May 13th, 2012   http://www.cleanbiz.asia/blogs/hks-3rd-runway-proposal-go-way-heathrows?page=show

By:

Mike Kilburn, Civic Exchange (now Senior Manager Environmen, HK Airport Authority)

On Monday 23 April 2012 the Environmental Affairs Panel of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) passed a motion requiring the Hong Kong Airport Authority (HKAA) to conduct a social return on investment (SROI) study, a carbon audit and a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in addition to the statutory environmental impact assessment (EIA) which they must conduct in order to secure approval to build a proposed third runway at Hong Kong International Airport.

This decision is significant because plans to add a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport were shelved largely because a SROI study showed that the impacts on residents living near the airport outweighed the economic benefits highlighted in the original proposals. HKAA officials, who are all too aware of the outcome in London, have consistently declined to conduct an SROI despite repeated calls to do so.

It is also significant because the Legislative Council had previously expressed support for the third runway during a meeting of the Panel on Economic Development in June 2011In March 2012 the Executive Council gave its approval in principle, subject to the statutory requirements of the EIA process, for the third runway to go ahead.

So why did a legislature which has been broadly supportive of the third runway – and highly receptive to the proposed HK$136 billion (USD17.4 billion) in contracts and notional HK$900 billion (USD115.4 billion) stimulus to the Hong Kong economy – decide that it needed more information that might derail the project?

The short answer is that they were persuaded to do so by Hong Kong’s environmental NGOs (envNGOs).  During the summer of 2011 the HKAA conducted a consultation exercise to seek the public’s views on whether it should restrict its development plans to optimizing the current two runway system, or substantially expand its capacity by adding a third runway. In December 2011 it released the findings of a survey showing that over 70 percent of the 24,000 respondents supported the third runway.

The envNGOs have not rejected the third runway, but they have expressed considerable concern over the loss of habitat for the globally-threatened Chinese White Dolphin and the negative impacts on air quality and noise disturbance to residents living close to the airport and the flight path. They also stressed that the HKAA’s presentation of the 2030 Masterplan had focused on the economic benefits and underplayed the social and environmental concerns.

In February 2012 WWF (HK) and Greenpeace released their own public opinion survey, also prepared by Hong Kong University. The envNGO survey showed that about 73 percent of the public was dissatisfied with amount of information HKAA had provided on the social and environmental impacts of the project. Choosing the same pollsters was an astute move since HKAA cannot challenge the envNGO’s survey without undermining the credibility of their own.

Prior to the motion, which was raised by legislator Kam Nai Wai, an envNGO coalition – WWF (HK), Greenpeace, Clean Air Network, Hong Kong Dolphinwatch, Friends of the Earth, Green Sense, Conservancy Association and Greeners Action – submitted a written paper and made verbal submissions which were unified in calling for the SROI, carbon audit and SEA.

When questioned by legislators, both HKAA’s Chief Executive Stanley Hui and Transport and Housing Bureau’s Sharon Yip expressed their intention to follow the statutory process – in other words to do nothing beyond the statutory EIA.

And herein lies the problem. Since its establishment in 1997 Hong Kong’s EIA process has been widely recognized as one of the best in the world for assessing the environmental impact of individual projects. Elsewhere, however, impact assessment has expanded to encompass a broader range of considerations, including social and health impacts and the cumulative impacts of multiple projects. Hong Kong has correspondingly fallen behind global best practice.

To make matters worse the Hong Kong public is increasingly concerned about declining environmental quality. There is also growing doubt that the Government’s development plans are truly sustainable.

Most specifically given the persistently high health impacts of air pollution and the long delay in introducing new air quality objectives (they remain unchanged since 1987), the public’s confidence that the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is an effective, or even committed, regulator of environmental standards is at an all-time low.

The most visible expression of this concern was the judicial review raised by a Tung Chung resident against the EPD’s approval of the EIA for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in 2010.

This combination of rising public expectations for transparency and quality of life, declining environmental quality and growing distrust of regulators greatly increases the pressure on HKAA and the THB, whose “statutory compliance” response looks as out of touch as the EIA process they would like to rely upon.

That legislators of all parties, including Miriam Lau, who is also a board member of the HKAA, voted unanimously to support the motion requiring the additional studies to be conducted suggests that the envNGOs have got this one right and it is HKAA, THB and the EIA process which must move with the times.

Related Content

Could air pollution block Hong Kong’s third runway?

HK Airport’s green ambitions mask poor government planning

Official report shows Hong Kong’s worsening air quality its own fault

Professional needed as top environmental regulator

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Idling engine law proving ineffective

SCMP

Letters to the Editor, September 19, 2012

Submitted by admin on Sep 19th 2012, 12:00am

Comment›Letters

Idling engine law proving ineffective

Hong Kong’s idling engine legislation is perplexing as it is copied (according to an Environmental Protection Department official I spoke to) from the traffic and boat idling ordinance of Toronto, Canada.

It is bewildering because, in 2011, Toronto was officially ranked No 1 city in the world in quality of living and clean air, and Hong Kong was voted one of the most polluted.

It is inexplicable that Hong Kong copies an environmental programme from a city that bears no resemblance to the problems the SAR suffers from.

Interestingly, the three minutes of permitted idling per 60 minutes was reduced in Toronto to just one minute and enforced regardless of the weather.

Hong Kong continues with its three minutes per hour and should the hot weather signal be in effect, then idling for as long as you like is perfectly legal.

So on days when pollutants should be reduced, our Environmental Protection Department allows empty coaches to idle and trucks to bellow noxious fumes into the air so a driver can sleep in his airconditioned cabin.

It is a travesty of a law designed to appease the very people guilty of polluting our air; our government continues to treat the health of Hong Kong citizens as unimportant and this is simply not good enough.

Mark Peaker, The Peak

Roadside pollution is getting worse

I refer to the letter by Edward Rossiter (“Government failing to curb pollution”, September 11).

Air pollution is getting worse and it poses a serious threat to our health.

Current government policies have been shown to be inadequate and ineffective. I am concerned that there has been an increase in the number of private cars but nothing has been done to curb deteriorating roadside pollution.

For those working in Kwun Tong, walking along the pavement for just 10 minutes is absolute torture as the traffic flow is heavy, especially in the rush hour.

Conditions are made worse by urban renewal projects. There are construction sites in operation day and night with dumper trucks coming in and out; the health of Kwun Tong residents is in jeopardy.

The air pollution index does not come up to international standards.

Why is a world city still using an outdated index, especially when it is supposed to be an important yardstick and is relevant to the health of Hong Kong citizens?

We have to face the fact that pollution is really getting out of control. It is high time the government considered curbing roadside pollution. Yet, the effectiveness of banning idling engines is in doubt.

It is not uncommon to find minibuses or taxis still with their engines running while they are waiting for passengers.

For the sake of the health of Kwun Tong residents, the government should do more to tackle the pollution they face at pavement level, like putting more resources into roadside greening and subsiding minibuses to use environmentally friendly engines.

Leung Kit-yan, Diamond Hill

Topics:

Idling engine legislation

roadside pollution


Source URL (retrieved on Sep 19th 2012, 6:29am): http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1040180/letters-editor-september-19-2012

Green groups to boycott third runway meeting

SCMP

Submitted by admin on Sep 19th 2012, 12:00am

Business

LAI SEE

Howard Winn howard.winn@scmp.com

Twelve green groups will boycott a meeting with the Airport Authority today which was to discuss the social and environmental impact of the third runway project.

The green groups have pulled out over what they say is a lack of commitment by the authority to carry out a social-return-on-investment study. A meeting planned at the end of last month was postponed over concern that there was “a divergence of opinion” between the two sides over the study.

While the green groups are pushing for a social-return study and a carbon emission study, the authority, which was initially opposed to conducting a social-return study, has said it has looked at “other evaluation approaches that have been adopted internationally”, which it says “may address the nature of your concerns about social and environmental impact”.

Evidently, this does not go far enough for the green groups. A letter from them to the authority recently noted: ” … we will not meet with the AAHK again in the 19/9 roundtable meeting if we do not receive a commitment from AAHK regarding our requests stated clearly in our joint letter.” Their withdrawal from the meeting is a blow to the authority, which is keen to keep them onside. Earlier this year it committed to becoming the “greenest airport in the world”, but this may be difficult to achieve without support from the green groups.


Source URL (retrieved on Sep 19th 2012, 6:02am): http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1040148/green-groups-boycott-third-runway-meeting