"Coleman: NWA need is real, tactics bad"

Friday, August 1, 2003

Coleman: NWA need is real, tactics bad
Greg Gordon and Dan Wascoe Jr.
The Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While criticizing Northwest Airlines' back-door maneuver
to block a costly noise-abatement program, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said
Thursday the struggling carrier is being asked to help pay the costs of the
nation's most ambitious noise-insulation effort.

"I can tell you that they firmly believe that by [toughening] those
standards, it places a huge economic burden on them without any scientific
basis," the freshman Republican said after speaking with a Northwest
official.

The federal standard for providing funds for noise insulation near airports
is an average of 65 decibels in takeoff and landing paths.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission has insulated more than 7,200 houses
under that standard. But in 1996, it also agreed to extend insulation to
thousands of houses exposed to an average of 60 to 64 decibels. That
commitment followed the Legislature's decision to expand Minneapolis-St.
Paul International Airport rather than build a new one in a relatively
remote area.

In 2000, Northwest and other airlines signed a lease with the commission
pledging to underwrite $70 million of $150 million in future
noise-insulation costs. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and
airline financial troubles, the commission slowed the pace of its 65-decibel
program.

It also is redrafting its entire insulation plan but still expects to
provide insulation in the 60-to 64-decibel neighborhoods. That plan,
however, is subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval.

Coleman and Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., said that Northwest last week
persuaded Sen. Trent Lott to amend a conference committee bill to forbid the
use of federal grants for noise mitigation in areas below 65 decibels. The
Twin Cities airport is one of only two in the country considering mitigation
below that level.

Neither Northwest nor Lott has responded to phone calls about the
legislative maneuver.

It's not clear whether the amendment also would forbid use of other funds as
well -- including ticket surcharges on airline passengers to help pay for
airport projects.

On Thursday, Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., and state Sen. Wes Skoglund,
DFL-Minneapolis, who was involved in the 1996 airport negotiations, joined
the politicians who have objected to Northwest's tactic.

Skoglund called it "a betrayal."

Sabo, who has secured millions of dollars in federal noise-abatement grants
for his constituents, said that if the change were enacted it could help
Northwest's bottom line. He wrote members of the conference committee asking
them to drop the provision before bringing the FAA authorization bill to the
House and Senate floors for final passage.

He called Lott's provision "disturbing" and contended it "could be broadly
interpreted to prevent the MAC from using even its own funds to live up to
these agreements."

Sabo acknowledged that airlines are ailing financially but said "they've got
to deal squarely and fairly with people who are reasonable."

"They're clearly doing an end run of the local process," he said.

The carrier has lost $1.4 billion since early 2001, and it has taken
numerous steps to cut costs, including reducing its workforce from 53,500 to
39,442.

In addition to scrutinizing every item in its own budget, Northwest has
aggressively dissected the spending of the Airports Commission. It also has
sued the agency over the costs of operating small reliever airports.

Partly because Northwest is its largest tenant, the commission has responded
to some of the airline's budget-cutting requests, but others have gone
unheeded.

Coleman said that Northwest "may have been just trying to make a statement"
and that it's unclear that the addition to the FAA bill would have any real
impact.

But Tom Anderson, the commission's lawyer, said he's concerned that federal
officials might interpret the new language in the conference committee
report to restrict not only federal airport grants but also the commission's
other financial sources.

He said that could lead to a ruling that using even airline fees and charges
for noise insulation in the 60-to 64-decibel zones might be an illegal
diversion of airport revenue for nonairport purposes.

Anderson said the commission is seeking clarification before Congress
completes action on the FAA bill.

MAC Chairwoman Vicki Grunseth has tried since her appointment this year to
knit closer ties with the airline. But she said she was surprised that
Northwest had tried to address the mitigation issue through Congress.

"They didn't consult with us," she said.

Anderson added that Northwest has not tried to renegotiate the
noise-mitigation provisions of its lease.

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