Former FAA Managers Say They Feel Airport Was Honest With Them

Did officials at DFW Airport intentionally fudge the truth in the process of obtaining FAA grants?

That's the allegation from airport whistle-blower Susan Heath, who's suing the airport... saying officials indeed lied through their teeth to the FAA about environmental problems that, had they been brought to light, would have stopped the grant process in many cases between 1993 and 2000.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the allegations are centered on a wastewater system Heath says spewed toxic materials into a nearby creek even in the most gentle of rainshowers.

She says every time DFW went to the FAA for a grant -- 16 times in those seven years -- airport executives failed to disclose the environmental problems she says would almost certainly have disqualified the airport in its quest for money.

But Heath's case may have been dealt a serious blow in court testimony this week, where the two men who headed the FAA's grant program during the time in question say they believed the airport was honest with them at all times.

"You have no reason to believe D/FW would have lied to you?" said Heath's attorney, Phil Benson, to Gene Faulkner and Otis Welch -- the former managers who handled grants for the FAA's Southwest Region.

Faulkner said no. Welch said the FAA did not investigate underground pipes at D/FW, as Heath says she had personally done.

Heath wants DFW to give back $156 million in grant money because of lies she says were told about the wastewater system.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.dfwairport.com