Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
- 58,308
- 5,100
- 245
The feds can't tell the difference between an airport and a coal mine, and people wonder why intelligent people think there are too many regulations.
âCoal mineâ stalls small Virginia airport runwayâs takeoff - Washington Times
Officials from two Southwestern Virginia counties say a project vital to the areas economic development has been held up for years because of a dispute with federal regulators over what is an airport and what is a coal mine.Local leaders say the three-year battle with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining over plans to extend the runway at Grundy Municipal Airport has cost taxpayers in this poverty-stricken corner of Appalachia millions of dollars in lost opportunities, and a list of regulatory hurdles remains before construction can even begin.
We were attempting to permit this project as an airport project, not a coal-mining project, said state Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, a Democrat from Lebanon who has been involved for three years with the effort to lengthen the runway from 2,200 feet to more than 5,000 feet the length needed to comply with insurance standards for corporate jets. The holdup: Federal regulators have refused to allow the runway project to go forward without a mining permit because of the coal deposits below the land that will be dug up during construction.
Thats where the permitting process got caught up in determining whether it was an airport project or a mining project, by the Office of Surface Mining in Washington, Mr. Puckett said. Weve tried to resolve that with them for the last couple of years. Weve had very little success.
âCoal mineâ stalls small Virginia airport runwayâs takeoff - Washington Times