The Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs issued a Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Certificate on February 14, 2001 for the Environmental Status and Planning Report (ESPR) filed by Massport. The Secretary acknowledged that Massport's filing adequately and properly complies with MEPA's regulations.

MEPA recognized Massport for its aviation regionalization plan, alternative fuel program, the new Logan DART shuttle to South Station and for expanding the highly popular Logan Express park and ride service.

The ESPR provides a snapshot of activity levels at Logan in 1999 as well as a status report on the planning, design and construction of airport projects. The ESPR also assesses existing environmental conditions and tracks Massport's mitigation commitments. The Secretary outlined areas that must be studied in greater detail in the next Environmental Report, including: target numbers for alternative fuel conversion; more information on hushkitted aircraft and FAA regulations for hushkitted aircraft; and, operations of the future Airport Intermodal Transit Connector.

The ESPR reflected a decrease in aircraft operations and an increase in passenger volume with Logan serving over 27 million passengers in 1999. The data also shows that regional airports are growing faster than Logan Airport. During the period of 1996-1999, the passnger growth at regional airports grew by 13 percent while passenger growth at Logan grew by only 2.5 percent. In 1999, regional airports accommodated 38 percent of New England's air passenger demand. The ESPR also shows that high occupancy vehicle (HOV) ridership to Logan increased by 5 percent over 1998 levels. Overall, HOV ridership increased to 6,539,285 passengers in 1999. Boston ranks second in the use of public transportation to a major airport in the United States.

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