Wed, Jul 12, 2006
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.
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