Though a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration recently ended, the stoppage was sufficient to suspend a project resurfacing the taxiway at Glacier Park International Airport, probably for the rest of the year.
Knife River had been awarded a $6.8 million job resurfacing the taxiway at the airport, a project estimated to have employed 50 workers. But when political gridlock by Washington lawmakers resulted in an FAA shutdown before the grant money arrived, the project was put on hold.
Upon learning of the FAA deal last week, Airport Director Cindi Martin said she was happy, but unless the grant money arrived soon, whether the project could get underway before cold weather sets in was questionable.
“If they can continue to dole out the discretionary dollars then it’s still a possibility,” Martin said. “We’re going to be able to make lemonade out of lemons.”
“It would all be the timing of when we have the fully executed grant in hand,” she added.
The deal allows 4,000 FAA workers and some 70,000 construction workers across the country to return to work. And though the House bill included cuts to rural airports, including in Glendive, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would waive those rural airports from the cuts.
The deadlock stemmed from anger by Democrats over the cuts to 13 rural airports, and provisions in a Republican bill that rolled back some union rights. The FAA shutdown was estimated to cost the government $30 million in uncollected airport ticket taxes a day – which is where the funds come from to pay for construction work like the planned project at Glacier Park International Airport. Airline companies, however, quickly raised their prices to make up for any lower prices customers might have enjoyed in the absence of the tax.
In Kalispell, Martin said airport officials were working far enough ahead to procure funding for the taxiway before it becomes dangerous, and that it should be able to weather another winter without a problem.
“If we get a grant in hand this year, we should be able to get work done before the pavement becomes critical,” Martin said. “I don’t know that it has two more winters in it.”
Here are the reactions from Montana’s federal delegation on the deal:
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.: “We were able to find enough common ground to get thousands of folks back to work. While my first choice was to avoid the unnecessary shutdown of the FAA, we could not allow a political standoff to keep hurting our working families. I received a personal commitment from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that Glendive and all of our rural communities that depend on Essential Air Service will have continued service to prevent further harm to our rural economies.”
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.: “I’m pleased this agreement gets folks back to work. But given the budget situation, we need to continue asking tough questions to make sure taxpayers are getting the most bang for the buck when it comes to air travel, safety and keeping up our infrastructure.”
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont.: “We need to get the FAA reauthorized again to keep Montana’s airport improvement projects up and running, but we’ve got to do it without sacrificing rural communities like Glendive. I opposed this approach when my own party passed it last month, and it’s still a bad idea when it was passed by the other party. What we need is a long-term fix that protects Essential Air Service and fulfills a promise that was made to Montana’s rural communities.”