MAKE YOUR NEXT TRIP TO LAX A GREEN ONE: Los Angeles World Airports Offers Travelers Tips On Clean-Air Ground Transportation At EarthFaire 2000

LOS ANGELES (April 20, 2000) – Environmentally-minded travelers can learn about green ground transportation available to Los Angeles Angeles International Airport (LAX) at EarthFaire 2000, Los Angeles County’s Earth Day celebration on April 22 at Exposition Park.

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), which owns and operates LAX, Ontario International (ONT), Palmdale Regional and Van Nuys Airports, is an EarthFaire sponsor and will offer visitors a clean-air transportation tip sheet and information about LAWA’s other environmental efforts at its booth.

The tips include details on options such as LAX’s enhanced door-to-door shuttle van program in which operators are now making the switch to clean-burning, alternative-fuel vehicles; the FlyAway Bus from Van Nuys Airport; Metro Rail train-to-the-plane service; electric car rentals; and free parking and recharging at LAX for electric vehicle drivers.

"As part of our ongoing environmental efforts, LAWA has worked to develop systems that offer travelers easy, economical ways to get to LAX while also helping to reduce vehicle congestion and emissions," said Philip J. Depoian, LAWA deputy executive director.

The LAWA booth will also feature a display on the El Segundo Blue Butterfly, a once endangered species now flourishing on a natural habitat voluntarily established by LAWA on the sand dunes adjacent to LAX. In 1976, the butterfly’s population had dropped to just 500.

Now, thanks to this conservation program, its population has soared to the tens of thousands. Children visiting the booth will be able to get a free temporary tattoo of the Blue Butterfly.

LAWA puts considerable effort and resources into creating and managing a wide range of programs that lessen the environmental impacts of operations at its four airports. Among the most widely recognized programs are the Air Quality Program, which includes adopting alternative-fuel vehicles and a voluntary rideshare program; Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling Program; Water and Energy Conservation Programs, and the free, voluntary Residential Sound Insulation Programs at LAX, VNY, and ONT, which allow airport neighbors to retrofit their homes with sound-insulating materials to reduce the impact of aircraft noise.