Northwest orders anti-nuke ad removed in Minneapolis

— -- In Minneapolis Northwest Airlines, the official airline of the Republican National Convention, has ordered an airport advertising firm to pull down an anti-nuclear weapons billboard ad at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport that was placed in time for the upcoming convention.

The ad, placed by advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, depicts a photo of an aerial cross-target locked onto downtown Minneapolis, the site of the convention that starts on Sept. 1. It urges Sen. John McCain that "it's time to get serious about reducing the nuclear threat. When only one bomb could destroy a city like Minneapolis, we don't need 6,000."

The group also bought a similar ad in Denver — addressing Sen. Barrack Obama — for the Democratic National Convention this week. "It's not an anti-McCain or anti-Obama ad," says Elliott Negin, spokesman for Union of Concerned Scientists.

Northwest says it asked Clear Channel Communications, which runs the advertising operation at Minneapolis-St. Paul, to remove the ad after receiving "several complaints from customers and employees on the content of this ad."

"The airport is a place where people of all political persuasions come for business and pleasure, and we wanted to avoid any issues related to what was perceived as a political message," says Northwest spokeswoman Tammy Lee in a statement.

Clear Channel says it complied because it's "under a contractual obligation to remove advertising copy … at the Minneapolis-St. Paul if (it) is objectionable to Northwest."

Clear Channel also voluntarily removed the ad in Denver last week "after being informed of the reasons for Northwest Airlines' objections to the advertising copy in question." Northwest doesn't operate in Denver.

SAN JOSE

Airport discontinues diesel shuttles

Mineta San José International Airport has fully converted all of its 34 shuttles to run on compressed natural gas, joining a growing list of domestic airports that now ban diesel buses.

CNG shuttles have been running at the airport since 2003, but it completed the transition by placing 14 new ones into service in the last three weeks to replace the remaining diesel-fuel vehicles.