TO EXTEND AND MODIFY THE AIRPORT AND AIRWAY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1970 TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1975 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee convened, pursuant to recess, at 10:15 a.m. in room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Glenn M. Anderson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. ANDERSON. The Subcommittee on Aviation will come to order. Today we begin our second day of hearings on the various proposals to revise and extend the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, as amended. We are pleased to have before us today the Secretary of Transportation, the Honorable William Coleman, and the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Honorable James Dow. We welcome you, Mr. Secretary. We hope and expect our future relationship to be a little smoother than those in the immediate past. We recognize the many bureaucratic problems you confront in trying to get a change in policy. We sympathize with you, and wish you good luck in your new assignment. We want to work with you. Since we have a short period of time, I will stop with that, and now yield to the ranking minority member of the subcommittee, Mr. Snyder, for any comment he would like to make. Mr. SNYDER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Certainly I want to welcome the Secretary here today, and congratulate him on his confirmation, and suggest that those of us who have served on the committee recognize the problems and challenges that lie ahead. Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield the balance of my time to the ranking minority member for the Full Committee on Public Works and Transportation, who I am sure you will be working with, Mr. Secretary, in days ahead. Mr. ANDERSON. Mr. Harsha. Mr. HARSHA. Thank you for yielding, Mr. Snyder. Mr. Secretary, I too, on behalf of the minority, want to congratulate you on your new endeavors, and welcome you to this committee. We look forward to your appearance here, not only today, but in the coming months, on a number of issues that confront both your Department and the committee. We appreciate you taking the time from what we all know is a very arduous schedule to be here with us and to give us the benefit of your good judgment in these matters. We look forward to working with you as best we can. That is all I have, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ANDERSON. Any further welcoming remarks? [No response.] Mr. ANDERSON. If not, Mr. Coleman, would you step forward, and Mr. Dow? Would you like for the record to introduce the other members who are with you? TESTIMONY OF HON. WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; ACCOMPANIED BY JAMES DOW, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION; TED LUTZ, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR BUDGET AND PROGRAM REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; ROBERT BACON, ASSOCIATE FAA ADMINISTRATOR FOR AIRPORTS; AND FRED MEISTER, ACTING ASSOCIATE FAA ADMINISTRATOR FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Chairman, before I introduce the people that are here with me, I would like to say that if I succeed in this job it will be because of the talent of the people in the Department. I will not be able to blame any failure on bureaucracy. If I fail, it just means that the President made a mistake, and picked the wrong guy. But I will try very hard to succeed. I have found that the men and women with me here today, and other people in the Department, are very talented and able, and I think we all want to get the job done in the same way. So, with your cooperation, I think we can work out the types of bills and the types of programs that the American people will be satisfied with, and ought to have. Here with me, as you have already recognized, are James Dow, who is Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration; Ted Lutz, my Deputy Under Secretary for Budget and Program Review; Robert Bacon, Associate FAA Administrator for Airports; and Fred Meister, Acting Associate FAA Administrator for Policy Development and Review. There are other Department people in the room, but those I have named are the ones at the table with me. Mr.. Chairman and members of this committee, I really appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the administration's proposal for the extension and revision of the airport and airway development program. The delay in submitting the bill which we are going to talk about today was due solely to my feeling and belief that I had a statutory duty as the new Secretary of Transportation to review the bill's content and to make such revisions and recommendations as I thought were proper. I just could not do it any sooner. In the future I will try to conform to the deadline, but I hope you will indulge me in view of the fact that I did feel that I had that type of responsibility before appearing before you. I hope this appearance today is the first of many beneficial exchanges I will have with this committee, for I intend to make it one of my high priorities that we establish a close working relationship with each other. The Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, enacted 5 years ago, was an important landmark in aviation legislation. For the first time it established a Federal commitment for long-term funding of the development of airport and airway facilities. Also, for the purpose of helping to alleviate a serious problem of airport and airway congestion, the 1970 act established annual authorizations at levels significantly higher than those that had been available before. For example, in the late 1960's, under the old Federal Airport Act, annual authorizations did not exceed $75 million per year. Being an old country boy, it is hard for me to say it was only $75 million, and that is not much money, but I guess I will learn down here that $75 million is not the type of money that we think it is in Philadelphia. But anyway, under the original Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, the annual authorization for airport development and planning totaled $295 million. This figure, as you know was increased to $310 million by amendments made to the act in 1973. However, the authorizations for the program expire on June 30. The President and I believe that based upon the 5-year experience under the 1970 act it is now time to retain the good parts of the former act, but to seek new direction for the program to remedy certain defects in the 1970 act. But first I would like to summarize the good parts of the 1970 act, which we intend to preserve. Over the 4-year period, fiscal years 1971 through 1974, nearly $1 billion in airport development funds have been apportioned involving over 2,000 projects; 82 new airports and 166 new runways have been built, and several hundred airports have been upgraded through the accomplishment of projects for improving and extending runways, taxiways, and aprons, and projects for the installation or improvement of airfield lighting and approach aids. I have a list of the airports, and a list of where the new runways were built, and I ask that they be copied into the record. Mr. ANDERSON. No objection, so ordered. [The information referred to follows:] Alaska-Chignik Lake, Chignik Lake; Seldovia, Seldovia; Akolmiut,1 Akolmiut; Andreafsky,' St. Marys; Goodnews,1 Goodnews; Ketchikan.' Ketchikan ; Klawock, Klawock; Scammon Bay,' Scammon Bay; Teller, Teller; Valdez.1 Valdez. Alabama-Prattville, Autauga County; Tuskegee, Morton Field Municipal. Footnotes on p. 98. |