US taxpayers anteing up for little-used airports
Virtually no one’s heard of the village of Ouzinkie, which is one of the remotest outposts in the entire US. Yet the local airport is home to a new $15 million airport paid for by taxpayers.
Yes, it’s part of the federal stimulus package.
The village has only 165 residents. There are no stores, no gas stations and no stoplights.
So why? Officials say the airport is a critical link for the Alutiiq natives.
“The Federal Aviation Administration has now allocated all of its $1.1 billion in stimulus money for airport improvements. But the complex set of rules laid out in the recovery act has led to some counterintuitive results,” says ProPublica.org.
The biggest winners aren’t the busiest airports. And more than $100 million is going to airports that have fewer than one flight an hour — airports that cater to recreational fliers, corporate jets or remote communities, says the site and CBS Evening News.
“The Alaskan villages of Ouzinkie, Akiachak and Fort Yukon are each getting the maximum $15 million stimulus grant. Other winners include an airport owned by a private flying club, one used mostly by Purdue University and a landing strip on an American Indian reservation that has roughly one flight every two days,” ProPublica says.
By contrast, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the busiest in the world — hasn’t received any stimulus money from the FAA. Neither have hubs in Newark and Las Vegas.
"We tried to target the ones that have the most urgent needs," said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. "It was designed to fund projects that otherwise might not have been funded. … For some airports, this is probably a unique opportunity."
Report by David Wilkening
David
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