The goal of the Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE) Program is to reduce the amount of regulated pollutants and other harmful air emissions generated by ground transportation sources at airports. The program provides sponsors with financial and regulatory incentives to increase the use of AFVs and other low-emission technologies suited to the airport environment.
Funding for VALE is provided through two airport assistance programs, the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which provides grants to airports from the Aviation Trust Fund, and the Passenger Facility Charges (PFC) program, which approves locally imposed fees from airline passengers for eligible airport development.
VALE also founded the Airport Ground Support Equipment Emissions Retrofit Pilot Program, which allows up to 10 commercial service airports to receive grants of no more than $500,000 each. Eligible projects for the pilot program are retrofits of existing eligible airport ground support equipment that burn conventional fuels to achieve lower emissions using emission control technologies certified or verified by the Environmental Protection Agency. The funding is awarded on a "first-come, first served" basis. For more information, visit www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/environmental/Vale/.