T.F. Green Plans to Better Catch Harmful Runoff

By ecoRI News staff

WARWICK — The Rhode Island Airport Corporation plans to spend $25 million during the next three years to stop chemicals from airplane deicing trucks at T.F. Green Airport from polluting the environment.

Every winter, airports across the country, including T.G. Green, spray millions of gallons of deicing chemicals onto planes and allow the runoff to trickle away. When these chemicals end up in nearby waterways, the deicing fluid can turn streams bright orange and create dead zones for aquatic life.

The proposed collection system at T.F. Green Airport is scheduled to be completed by March 2015. It’s part of an agreement recently reached between the airport corporation and the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to reduce the amount of deicing pollutant that is discharged into Buckeye Brook and other nearby wetlands.

This new collection system will enable the airport to collect 60 percent of the glycol-based deicing solution used on planes as compared to its current collection rate of 35 percent to 45 percent, according to the agreement.

Aircraft deicing/anti-icing fluids typically contain water, glycols and additives. The toxicity exhibited by these fluids is due in part to the presence of glycols, which typically make up between 45 percent and 65 percent of the total fluid by weight, but is also due to the additives contained in the fluids, according to environmental groups.

Several toxicity studies have been performed using pure ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, but few studies have been performed using formulated aircraft deicing/anti-icing fluids. The formulations are considered trade secrets, and only limited information is available on the actual chemical compositions of these formulated fluids.