Coe expects Cody airport grant won’t be affected

An unresolved congressional standoff that has partially shut down the Federal Aviation Administration is impacting plans for a new taxiway at the Powell Municipal Airport.

Without FAA money for the project — 95 percent of a $592,852 bid — the Powell City Council decided on Monday to hold off on the taxiway construction until the federal funding is secure.

“The options are to sit and wait until the FAA comes back or to go forward with the hopes that they will come back and the money will be there,” City Engineer Sean Christensen told the council Monday.

The FAA’s long-term operating authority expired in 2007. Since then, Congress has been unable to agree on a long-term funding plan. The agency has continued to operate under a series of 20 short-term extensions.

The latest extension expired at midnight July 22 after Senate Democrats rejected a temporary extension bill passed by the House that contained subsidy cuts. Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic extension that didn’t include cuts.

The Senate recessed on Tuesday until September, erasing any possibility for resolving the issue quickly. The House left Monday night.

Until lawmakers in Washington determine FAA funding, Powell’s taxiway — like hundreds of airport projects — is on hold.

“You’re in the same situation that everyone across the country is in,” City Attorney Sandra Kitchen told councilmen Monday night.

In June, the City Council awarded the taxiway bid for $592,852 to Nicholson Dirt Contracting. Included in the project are a partial parallel taxiway, hangar access taxi lane (taxi lane and apron) and runway turnaround.

Christensen said the entire taxiway project is eligible for the federal grant. City and airport leaders had hoped work would begin this summer.

Last month, the city voted to sign an agreement with the FAA, contingent on the federal funding coming through.

“The FAA portion of the grant won’t be signed until when and if they go off furlough,” Christensen said.

“We have a contractor who is idling, but is ready to go ... the easy thing to do, the safest thing to do, is to wait. The downside is, the price (of materials) could go up while we wait,” Christensen said.

Under the funding arrangement, the FAA would cover 95 percent of the project, while the city contributes 2 percent of the cost and the state covers the remaining 3 percent.

“You take a risk if you go ahead with the project and then don’t have the money. Then you pay for the project,” Kitchen said.

“I don’t see a choice there,” Councilman Myron Heny responded.

“We have to wait,” Councilman John Wetzel agreed.

It’s unclear how the FAA partial shutdown will impact plans for a federal grant for Cody’s Yellowstone Regional Airport.

In June, SkyWest Airlines said it will end all flights from Yellowstone Regional Airport in September, but efforts to retain the airline with a federal grant still are progressing despite the impasse in Washington, D.C.

The Washington, D.C. deadlock to end a partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown is not expected to impede a Community Air Service Development Program grant that Cody Yellowstone Air Improvement Resources and Yellowstone Regional Airport are applying for, said Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, and CYAIR chairman.

“I don’t think it has any effect,” he said Wednesday.

The grant application is to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Coe said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)