"Louisiana airport proposal up in the air"

Sunday, April 1, 2001

Airport proposal up in the air
By WILL SENTELL
The Advocate - Baton Rouge, Louisiana


The uphill quest to build a $5 billion airport between Baton Rouge and New
Orleans is led by an obscure state board that once operated out of a car
trunk.

Key politicians ridicule the plan. The state's transportation chief will not
even discuss it. The group leading the drive, the Louisiana Airport
Authority, has not been funded by the state since 1995.

"We need a champion," said Glenda Jeansonne, director of economic
development for the authority.

Interest by three private developers is credited with sparking renewed talks
about a new airport. However, even in a best-case scenario a new facility
would require years of planning and construction.

At stake, supporters say, is an airport and transportation center that would
be the biggest economic development plum in state history. It would meet new
demands for fast, cheap transportation spawned by the Internet and
e-commerce and explosive new trade with Latin America.

The plan would feature a huge air cargo operation and likely include
passenger air service. It would provide links to water, railroads and
highways. Warehouse and high-tech distribution centers would surround the
25,000-acre center, which promoters say could generate $10 billion a year
and thousands of jobs.

"It has caught fire like you have never seen," said Glen Smith, chairman of
the authority's board of commissioners.

But the effort has stirred so little interest among state officials that
even getting $280,000 this year to study the idea, a study backers say is
crucial, faces major hurdles.

"I do not want to just fund another study that is not going to happen," said
Rep. Mike Futrell, R-Baton Rouge and a member of the House Transportation,
Highways and Public Works Committee.

Rep. Juba Diez, D-Gonzales and chairman of the committee, predicts the
airport will never become reality because of opposition in Ascension and
other parishes.

"They don't want airports in their neighborhood," Diez said.

Nicky Prejean, a Gonzales businessman and former vice-chairman of the
authority, is pessimistic.

"I think it is a very serious project, but I don't think it'll ever happen,"
Prejean said.

U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, dismissed the proposal.

"This is just talk," he said. "Never happen."

The airport plan has been mired in controversy almost since lawmakers set up
the authority in 1992. The idea was pushed by former Gov. Edwin Edwards.
Aides to Edwards said a new international airport could become a major hub
with direct flights to Europe and South America.

A study finished in 1994 concluded that the plan was feasible. But Edwards
left office, lawmakers lost interest and the effort stalled for years.

Squabbles erupted on the airport board. The lawmaker who sponsored the
original legislation threatened to disband the authority.

There was a spat on why the authority was not based in Baton Rouge, which
the law that set up the group required.

For a while, officials said, the authority operated out of the trunk of
Smith's car and Jeansonne's home. The board now meets in a nondescript
office in LaPlace.

Gov. Mike Foster took office in 1996 and, shortly after, said the
mega-airport idea should be dropped. The plan appeared dead.

Smith said the project won new life after three private investor groups
expressed interest.

One is led by Jerry Wolman, former majority owner of the Philadelphia Eagles
football team. The others are Schiphol USA, Inc., which is a partner in a
$1.2 billion project at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Groupe
GTM/ADP Management, an international airport operator.

Smith said he hopes the state can sign a contract with one of them by the
end of the year. He said he hopes investors buy the property, donate it to
the state and the state would then lease it to investors for 25-30 years.
Investors would earn revenue from air cargo and other operations. The state
would get tax revenue and other benefits.

Wolman's group told lawmakers recently it is considering a $5 billion
investment in the effort.

"I think the investor groups proved the validity of the project," Smith
said. "These guys are pledging millions of dollars to the state of
Louisiana."

Foster met with Wolman's group last year and said the project is feasible.

"As long as there is private money out there, we have to look at it," the
governor said in an interview. "I think it is worth taking a look at."

Backers label the airport the biggest transportation project in state
history.

But Kam Movassaghi, state transportation secretary, declined two requests to
even discuss the proposal. Some officials contend Movassaghi is lukewarm to
the idea.

Others said the agency's stance is not unusual.

"We don't really get involved in this stage of a project," state aviation
director Anthony Culp said. "For right now we are not really involved and we
have no position."

The proposal has drawn support from a few lawmakers, including Reps. Roy
Quezaire Jr., D-Donaldsonville, and Bobby Faucheux, D-LaPlace.

Three of the state's congressmen, especially U.S. Rep. David Vitter,
R-Metairie, have urged Foster to provide the 10 percent in state matching
funds to pay for a crucial, second feasibility study. U.S. Rep. John
Cooksey, R-Monroe, said the Baton Rouge and New Orleans airports do not have
enough land or the proper configuration to handle an international air cargo
complex.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she has not ruled out supporting the
project and assisting its search for federal funds.

Others contend the airport proposal is simply a pawn in a New Orleans spat
over control of New Orleans International Airport. Political leaders in New
Orleans suburbs want a say in operations of the existing airport, a move
that city leaders oppose. Threatening to build a new airport, some officials
said, is a good way to win concessions from city officials.

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport leaders are vehemently opposed to
construction of a new facility. Anthony Marino, director of aviation,
contends it would destroy the Baton Rouge facility, cost 1,550 employees
their jobs and damage North Baton Rouge.

"We don't think it is a good idea," Marino said. Opposition by officials of
both airports is credited with chilling interest by many state and local
politicians.

Smith and other project backers contend the new center would allow the state
to take advantage of trade with Latin America that the New Orleans and Baton
Rouge airports can never do.

New Orleans International Airport generates $1.5 billion in annual revenue
compared to $16.8 billion by Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta,
$11.2 billion at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport and $13 billion at
Miami International Airport, financial consultants to the authority said.

Studies also show a need for 34 million square feet of warehouse space by
2020 to take advantage of Latin American trade opportunities, Smith said.

But Eugene Schreiber of the World Trade Center of New Orleans questioned
whether a project like the authority is pushing would amount to overkill.

Over the past several years, Schreiber said, New Orleans International has
been unable to maintain direct flights to Mexico City.

"It sounds logical," Schreiber said of the project. "But if there is all
that business out there, why is it we can't get flights right now? New
Orleans (airport) is not at capacity right now."

After nine years of trying, backers of a new airport face a crucial hurdle.

The initial feasibility study was finished in 1994. A second study, which is
supposed to spell out pros and cons of the project, should be finished by
May. The third study now pending, backers said, is critical.

The Federal Aviation Administration has promised to pick up 90 percent of
the tab for the next review. One key issue the study is supposed to resolve
is a site for the new airport.

Authority officials have repeatedly said no site has been picked so far.
Possibilities include the east bank of St. James Parish or the west bank of
St. James and St. John parishes between the Gramercy and Luling bridges.

The next study will also provide an estimate for highway, sewer and other
improvements needed for the plan to move forward.

The state's perpetually strained budget would likely have to pick up some of
those costs, which is sure to generate still more controversy. Smith said
the state might eventually have to provide around 10 percent of a $5 billion
project, or $500 million.

But whether state leaders even want to provide the 10 percent match needed
for the final feasibility study remains unclear.

"The project is so large and takes such vision," said Lewis Smith, who
represents Tangipahoa Parish on the authority's board. "You cannot tell this
to the multitude of visionless politicians out there." Lewis Smith is not
related to Glen Smith.

The authority hopes to get $280,000 this year. The governor's office said
recently the money will not be in Foster's initial budget request. But the
governor now says "we're going to find the money" in this year's budget to
help fund the study.

Glen Smith said time is crucial because interest rates and other issues mean
private groups will not wait forever.

"We have investors willing to sign on the dotted line," he said.

Smith also discounts comments that the airport proposal is a fantasy.

"All big projects were dreams early on," he said.

Attached Photo:

A plane takes off at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

baton_rouge_metro.jpg