ATC Privatization - interesting reading

August 20, 2003
The Honorable Norman Mineta Transportation Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 7th Street, S.W
Washington, DC 20590
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We write to express our grave concern about the recent conduct of the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in lobbying Congress for the authority
to privatize America's air traffic control (ATC) system. Although the FAA
has said that it had no intention of privatizing ATC functions, it worked
behind closed doors to gain authority to replace federal controllers at 69
airport towers with contract employees of private companies. Then, in an
apparent private deal with the Alaska delegation, the FAA agreed to be
prohibited from privatizing Alaska airports. How, Mr. Secretary, can you
defend a system that has one standard for Alaska, and another for the other
49 states? If privatization did not pose a threat to safety and efficiency,
why would the experienced legislators of the Alaska delegation bother to
exempt their own airports? And now, in an effort to win Congressional
approval of the conference report on Vision 100-Century of Aviation
Reauthorization Act ("Conference Report"), the FAA appears ready to use a
similar scheme to exempt towers in other states. It seems the Administration
has different standards for air traffic control towers depending on the
votes the Administration needs to pass the Conference Report. It has
recently come to light in a report in the Tulsa World that the FAA has
promised Senator Nickles that the Riverside Airport control tower in his
home state of Oklahoma will not be privatized. It is not surprising that
Oklahomans are concerned about privatization, and that concern was reflected
in the support the Lautenberg amendment received from Senator Inhofe. The
Administration will need Senator Inhofe, and others of the 11 Republicans
who supported the Lautenberg amendment, to have a change of heart in order
to pass its plan to privatize air traffic services. Once again we ask, if
privatization poses no threats to safety and efficiency, why are members of
Congress demanding they be exempted from the program? This is not the first
instance of improper behavior on behalf of the Administration on this issue.
Shortly before Senate consideration of the Lautenberg amendment in June,
Administration officials sent a factually incorrect e-mail to many Senate
offices (except that of Senator Lautenberg) in a failed attempt to lobby
against the Lautenberg amendment. The e-mail claimed the scope of the
proposed Lautenberg provision was much broader than it actually was. This
instance was chronicled in a hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation, on July 8. Safe and efficient air travel for
all Americans is a non-partisan commitment from both the House and the
Senate. The FAA is charged with protecting the safety of air travel, not
cutting political deals-especially when those deals appear to be based on no
sound safety or economic policy, but rather political calculations. To that
point, we are asking you to instruct the FAA Administrator to report to
Congress on any and all arrangements to exempt FAA-run control towers from
being contracted out. We assure you that failure to report fully and
promptly on this matter will lead to a loss in confidence among ourselves
and our colleagues in the Congress in the leadership of the FAA. Thank you
for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely, ______________________ ____________________ Frank R. Lautenberg
James L. Oberstar U.S. Senator Ranking Democratic Member U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

"Simon" wrote in message
ink.net...
August 20, 2003
The Honorable Norman Mineta Transportation Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 7th Street, S.W
Washington, DC 20590
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We write to express our grave concern about the recent conduct of the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in lobbying Congress for the
authority
to privatize America's air traffic control (ATC) system. Although the FAA
has said that it had no intention of privatizing ATC functions, it worked
behind closed doors to gain authority to replace federal controllers at 69
airport towers with contract employees of private companies. Then, in an
apparent private deal with the Alaska delegation, the FAA agreed to be
prohibited from privatizing Alaska airports. How, Mr. Secretary, can you
defend a system that has one standard for Alaska, and another for the
other
49 states?

Alaska is not part of the Continental US. Did you know there are Interstate
Highways in Hawaii?