GAO to study regional airport project funding

By RUSTY GARRETT
Times Staff Writer

A national television report questioning funding of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport has prompted a Republican senator to request a federal review of the project.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has asked the General Accounting Office to study the regional airport with regard to the Federal Aviation Administration's issuance of letter-of-intent funding for the project.

Nancy Ives, press secretary for McCain, said the senator was made aware of questions surrounding the project from a recent report on ABC television's "20/20." Ives said other "outside groups" had also discussed the project with McCain before the program aired Feb. 21.

Ives said McCain wants "an independent assessment" of federal contributions to the project, particularly with regard to the allocation of "scarce discretionary funds."

She said McCain specifically wants to review the criteria used for a decision to award the regional airport project $29.5 million in letter of intent funds pledged toward the project over the next five years.

McCain also intends to study a decision to provide 95 percent federal funding for a highway project that will serve the airport location in rural Benton County.

"He wants to make sure everything was followed to the letter of the law," Ives said.

She said the regional airport project is just one of several LOI-funded projects the GAO plans to study.

Scott Van Laningham of the airport authority staff said GAO representatives are expected in Fayetteville next week to scrutinize the project.

LOI funds were pledged to the airport project in January. The authority is planning to market bonds for construction, backed by the federal money. The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a moratorium on LOI projects that was lifted in October 1996, Van Laningham said. Several other LOIs issued since the moratorium expired are also being studied.

"We are confident that the GAO will find ... that this project meets all FAA rules, regulations and criteria for the issuance of a LOI," a press release from the authority said.

Van Laningham said he had little information on how the GAO plans to conduct its review. "They want to meet with a lot of folks," he said, and a tour of the airport site is planned. He declined to name those the investigators would question.

He was also unsure how long the on-site visit or the investigation might last. "We are hoping they will be prompt," he said.

Ives said a preliminary report on the review should be available sometime in May. It may be September before the review is complete, however.

It was also unclear whether the review would cause any significant delay in the project. The program manager hopes to have the project's paving and lighting work completed by year's end, as well as construction of a hangar to be leased to an aircraft conversion company that plans to locate at the new airport.

Ives said the GAO does not have the authority - and does not intend - to stop the work during the review. She said no decision will be made on the project before the review is completed.

"It's not unusual for the GAO to take a look at a project such as this," Van Laningham said. "We expected they would be doing this as some time. Now is the time."

He said another recent airport project, the Denver airport, was subjected to four GAO reviews.

The release said the authority "welcomes the review and the opportunity to present any other information about the project that the GAO desires. We are confident the GAO will find that construction of the new airport is necessary to provide adequate and safe air transportation for the region."