Spokane7
68°
February 7, 2012 in City
Congress passes bill reauthorizing FAA spending
$40 million could come to area
Approval Monday of legislation to reauthorize spending by the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to bring more than $40 million in investment for Spokane International Airport and Felts Field over four years.
The U.S. Senate on a 75-20 vote approved the long-awaited reauthorization Monday evening.
“Finally, Congress is getting something done,” said U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.
Cantwell said the funding could support 12,000 jobs in Washington alone.
Approval came after more than four years of disagreement over various provisions. A Republican-led effort to weaken rules governing union organizing at airlines and railroads was resolved in a compromise between the House and Senate.
The bill frees up money to upgrade the existing air traffic control system from the use of radars to a newer global positioning technology.
The change is expected to speed up air transportation and allow airplanes to more efficiently land on glide paths rather than in a series of altitude drops.
On the ground, the bill will provide certainty of funding for the next four-plus years and allow Spokane’s primary commercial airport to move ahead with planned projects, said Lawrence Krauter, CEO at the airport.
Airport improvement money will likely be used for taxiway reconfiguration; rehabilitation of the airport’s crosswind runway No. 7-25; modifications to Airport Drive, the main terminal access road; emissions-reduction projects; a new fire station; and airfield safety training, Krauter said in an email.
As much as $37 million could be spent at Spokane International with another $5 million or more at Felts Field.
Felts would get rehabilitation of aircraft parking aprons and taxiways, new taxi lanes for future hangar development and airfield safety projects.
As part of the bill, Cantwell said she won an amendment that will provide savings on future purchases of fixed-wing air ambulances through approval of tax-exempt financing for those aircraft. Helicopter purchases already enjoy that type of financing.
Cantwell said the availability of air ambulance services is a major issue for Spokane and Northeast Washington.
“Airports are a central part of economic development strategies for any community,” Cantwell said.
The bill authorizes $11 billion on the new GPS air traffic control system out of a total of $63 billion in funding.
Private companies in the Pacific Northwest have been involved in development of the next-generation technology and could benefit from the federal spending, Cantwell said.
Airports will see a small decrease in funding levels, Krauter said, in part because the local airport match required for federal funding will increase from 5 to 10 percent under the bill.
The union provisions would toughen lesser requirements for holding organizing elections, the Associated Press reported.
MLK Jr. Way opens Thursday 
oneanddone on February 07 at 5:00 a.m.
$5mil for Felts? Give me a break. No wonder at all the deficit is where it is.
DickAdams on February 07 at 7:58 a.m.
The way these jokers in congress talked I thought they might stop their reckless spending habits. Apparently, these legislators are so addicted to spending our money the only cure shall be bankruptcy at some point in time, and future generations will pay the price. A sad commentary for our youth to look forward too.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 07 at 8:48 a.m.
If it creates jobs but a Democrat supports it, it’s bad for the country.
And yes, Dick, you are entitled to your opinion. :-)
opiemuyo on February 07 at 9:20 a.m.
Well, are the jobs permanent or temporary?
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 07 at 10:12 a.m.
Amazing, even when most republican lawmakers are in favor of something that adds jobs its evil because some democrats are also in favor of it.
greenlibertarian on February 07 at 12:05 p.m.
There’s no such thing as a permanent job, duh.
RedCedar on February 07 at 12:33 p.m.
l_i_r_w_l, the way I parse government pending, in terms of jobs, is this: If the money is being spent for something useful, if the price being paid is reasonable, and the procurement employs people, then it’s a good thing. If its only purpose is to “create jobs” and nothing useful comes of it, then it’s a bad thing. “Job creation” for its own sake, without producing anything useful, is bad not only because it’s a direct waste of money, but because it doesn’t have any multiplier effect on the economy as a whole.
In this case a few million dollars worth of runway, road, and safety improvements to the local airports sounds to me like a whothwhile procurement that also employs people. Most of FDR’s Depression-era “make-work” projects were also in the “good” category because building highways, dams, and power lines were things that would improve the economy as a whole by making transportation, manufacturing, and farming cheaper. The best recent example of the worthless kind was when they tore out the street-corner wheelchair ramps in many cities and replaced them with new wheelchair ramp that had yellow plastic bumps in them.
??Riddler?? on February 07 at 12:51 p.m.
?? oneanddone ??
?? What’s the current price of asphalt and concrete..not that crap they put on our City streets, but FAA grade ??
MrNatural on February 07 at 1:41 p.m.
FAA spending = Good
Condescending malcontents = Bad
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 07 at 1:56 p.m.
I see this as a band-aide, 40 mil can be eaten up fast with paving alone. Once all construction projects are done then where do those workers go? The improvements will do nothing for the long haul. People need jobs that will continue and not have a definite end date.
RedCedar on February 07 at 5:14 p.m.
“Long haul” equals “until November 6th”.
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 07 at 6:10 p.m.
@RedCedar
I see it the same way.