John Murtha’s airport to nowhere continues to get federal subsidies

The people of the United States need to be aware of the federal government subsidies that are handed out to local communities on a regular basis, and they need to realize this graft is unconstitutional. If you want it in your state, pay for it yourself. Stop depending on what you refer to as “free” money from Washington, it’s not free and it’s destroying our country.

If you’re one of the people who live in New Alexandria, Pa., you’ve got a couple of airport options. You can head west to Pittsburg, or head east to John Murtha’s Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Either way, the travel time is about an hour. Live to the east of Murtha’s airport? Head to east to Harrisburg. You live where you live, and sometimes it’s quick and easy to get to an airport and sometimes it’s not.

Heck, my travel time to the airport is about five minutes, where a friend in Spray, Oregon has to travel almost four hours to get to the airport at Portland.

Question: What is the maximum distance and travel time an American should have to travel to get to an airport that provides daily service to a major hub before the federal government steps in and spends a couple million to build and sustain an airport?

That really is the question is it not? Actually, it’s more about congress-critters like the late John Murtha, who wielded so much power in Congress after 36 years, he was routinely in a postions to choose winners in the federal pork game. One of the winners was his $150 million airport that has three departures and four arrivals per day, all to and from Washington’s Dulles International Airport.

If it was just the $150 million, that would be bad enough. But as it turns out, the federal government continues to subsidize this airport to the tune of $100 per ticket plus additional subsidize to keep the place running.

Of course, ABC News is not mad about this, they present the story as an “oh well, isn’t this interesting lifestyle piece” instead of a hard-hitting what the heck is going on in Washington review. Nothing to see here, it’s just standard operating procedure and only a few hundred million … it’s nothing really.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

14 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on April 4, 2012 at 11:05 am

    I think the airport to nowhere is used to fly to the “?bama approved” oil pipeline to nowhere in Oklahoma…



  2. WagTheDog on April 4, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Wait a minute – is this a subsidy or tax break?? Hum – I think this is a case of subsidy.



  3. Lynn on April 4, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    I really want to go to this “Nowhere”, it’s full of great stuff! Maybe I’ll ask my travel agent to book me a trip.



  4. Plainvillian on April 4, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Regulation, litigation, and cost have reduced small airports to beggars for federal funds and the winners have powerful congresscritter patrons. ? Small airports are also an important component for business development because often businesses want to be able to fly personnel to an airport close to their facilities.
    Our airspace and airline route structure has produced a system in which one goes from Hartford to Charlotte to get to Chicago and will wait at least an hour to board each flight.? Major airlines serve less than 600 major airports, so some form of feeder system is required.? From the beginning, airlines were subsidized with mail contracts, so there is a long history of? public largesse for air carriers.
    Personal flight in a single engine airplane is the ultimate expression of freedom.? When I got my pilot’s license in 1978, about 15% of the population were private pilots and we could land at 7000 public use airports .? Today about .06% are private pilots and we have less than 6000 public use airports but the good news is we don’t get groped or have our luggage stolen by TSA personnel.?
    In 1978 there were over 14,000 new single engine aircraft produced in the US, in 2010 there were 679.?…



    • Plainvillian on April 4, 2012 at 2:26 pm

      There were more jet and turboprop aircraft built than single engine aircraft last year.? Jet and turboprop aircraft fly in a highly structured system where freedom is anathema.? That is the environment FAA and their central planning rulers would like to have us all in.
      Sorry about the length, but it’s a complex subject about which I tend to be vocal.



    • Lynn on April 5, 2012 at 7:10 am

      “Personal flight in a single engine airplane is the ultimate expression of freedom”? I don’t know why you should want freedom, Plains! LOL. The new and Progressive United States finds freedom, unruly!



    • Steve M on April 5, 2012 at 8:19 am

      I understand your passion for GA. My point is the federal government should have no role in subsidizing these airports, if government is involved, it must be at the state level only. Federal involvement opens up political graft to new levels, where some communities get airports – much more lavish than needed – and some get zip thanks to the power structure in D.C.



    • Plainvillian on April 5, 2012 at 10:45 am

      The American airspace system is incredibly complex.? The interests of different classes of users are often in conflict…. kinda like the populace.?
      Federal purview and federal? standards are critical to the commercial and personal use of aircraft.? Having flown into a number of airports which do not meet the construction and design standards expected can lead to some nasty surprises.? Federal and indeed international controls are the only means of setting and meeting standards of safety and utilization we all desire.
      Sadly, the only way FAA can make sure standards are met is through the power of the purse.? Local funding would leave us with poorly constructed and designed airports which would be less safe and avoided by serious pilots.? In the case of the Murtha Taj Mahal, or Hyannis, MA, the airports have been developed far beyond a reasonable level for the traffic to suit the whims of powerful politicians.? Balance is needed.



    • Lynn on April 5, 2012 at 12:29 pm

      As someone who knows nothing about airports, except I get lost in them. I am glad you both clarified this point. Taj Mahals of any kind built with Tax Payer money is just plan wrong. Functional buildings equipped to meet required safety rules of the federal & state? govt and to allow handicapped access are all that is necessary.? Balance, it’s what is necessary in all things.? After all, our government is based on balance of power, even though some want to change that.



  5. JBS on April 4, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    For years we had “The Bridges to Nowhere” in Farmington, CT. The bridges straddle I-84. They were laughingly referred to as Connecticut’s largest public outdoor sculpture.?
    Somme time ago, Route 9 punched through the landscape connecting Route 9 to its southern section and I-91. The bridges, two of them, finally saw use.
    One remains unused. We still have a bridge that is unconnected and yet requires constant maintenance. How many more boondoggles such as this or the Murtha Airport are there in the US?
    ?



    • essneff on April 4, 2012 at 11:06 pm

      It is why we are closing in on $16,000,000,000,000 in debt with no end in sight…… to quote Pogo, we have met the enemy and it is us!



  6. SeeingRed on April 5, 2012 at 7:11 am

    Proving once again that once a Gubmint program is started, it goes on forever (unless of course it has anything to do with oil or coal).



  7. winnie on April 7, 2012 at 4:51 am

    The creepy image of an empty John Murtha Airport reminds me of the ’95 Stephen King movie, “The Langoliers”.?



    • Lynn on April 7, 2012 at 4:09 pm

      Love Stephen King and that is the perfect movie to depict the creepy JMA, both of them.



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