"Charleston, W.Va., Regional Airport Plan May Remain in Study Phase until 2006"

Friday, June 13, 2003

Charleston, W.Va., Regional Airport Plan May Remain in Study Phase until
2006
The Charleston (WV) Gazette


The study process for the proposed regional airport, already more than a
decade old, is likely to continue for at least another two or three years.

That was the assessment made Thursday by Lowell Johnson, the state
Department of Transportation's assistant secretary for ports, following a
meeting in Institute of the West Virginia Public Port Authority.

With work not expected to begin until October on the final study mandated
for the project, "It will take at least until the end of 2005 or early 2006
to finish," Johnson said. 

While Landrum & Brown of Cincinnati has been hired to complete the final
study, an environmental impact statement, funding is not likely to be
available to begin the work until after the start of the new federal fiscal
year on Oct. 1, Johnson said.

"Unless the Federal Aviation Administration would decide to tap into its
discretionary funds, we will have to wait until October," he said.

Work on the environmental impact statement will likely be divided into
several phases, Johnson said, and will involve meetings with officials in
numerous state and federal regulatory agencies.

After the FAA provides Landrum & Brown with a scope of work documented for
the environmental study, and the consulting firm responds with an estimate
of its costs, an independent consulting firm will be brought in to review
the cost estimate and make sure it is reasonable, Johnson said.

An oft-revised benefit-cost survey for the proposed airport is now in its
16th month and its completion date is uncertain. A governance plan for the
airport is being drafted by Tom Heywood, the Port Authority's legal counsel,
and should be completed in a matter of weeks, Johnson said.

"Basically, it just shows the ways airports can be governed under West
Virginia law," Johnson said of the governance plan. "It shouldn't be
controversial."

Johnson said the FAA would work directly with the consulting firms in
completing and reviewing the remaining studies.

In other business Thursday, the Port Authority voted to allocate $85,000 to
the Kanawha Valley Port Authority District. The money will be used to hire a
consultant and a staff person to help finalize development plans for a river
port that includes the current Dow Chemical distribution terminal in North
Charleston and the west end of Dow's Blaine Island.

"We could have the facility up and running in 18 months," said Stephen Weir,
director of the port district. The distribution terminal, which Dow wants to
divest itself of but continue to use, could be operating under Kanawha
Valley Port Authority management in two or three months, if all goes well,
Weir said.

Other allocations made by the Port Authority on Thursday included $25,000 to
the Buffalo-Putnam Port District; $25,000 to the Jackson County Industrial
and Maritime Center; $35,000 to the Weirton Port Authority, and $5,000 to
buy equipment for the Sistersville Ferry.


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