Aviation Economic Experts Charge Chicago Falsified Grant
Application for O'Hare Expansion
They admittedly have an agenda. Hired by two cities bordering
O'Hare International Airport, an aviation economics consultant says
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's grandiose plan for a massive $20-plus
billion dollar expansion of O'Hare has been dealt a major blow --
because Daley, in essence, lied.
Campbell Hill Aviation Group says the mayor's big plan hit a
major roadblock last Friday when the nationally known economic
consulting firm, filed a massive critique of Chicago's application
for hundreds of millions of dollars in special federal grants. The
Campbell-Hill filing with the FAA charges that Chicago has made
false claims of economic benefits to persuade FAA to issue the
federal funds. It also demands that FAA reject Chicago's
application because the economic costs of Chicago's O'Hare
expansion project are far greater than the economic benefits.
"This important study filed with the FAA once again shows that
the City continues to 'cook the books' by low-balling the costs and
inflating the benefits of the flawed O'Hare Modernization Plan,"
says John Geils, President of Bensenville.
Chicago is seeking an FAA grant of $300 million to fund the
first phase of the City's $20-plus billion plan to entirely rebuild
O'Hare Airport. Federal law requires that airports submit a
Benefit-Cost Analysis ("BCA") demonstrating that the benefits of
the project outweigh the costs.
Chicago has submitted a BCA Study to
the FAA which claims that both "Phase I" of the proposed O'Hare
expansion and the entire OMP meet the required benefit-cost
tests.
Campbell-Hill refuted the City's claims in a scathing report.
Among the City's BCA false claims identified by Campbell-Hill:
- Vastly overstated delay savings by capping flight operations at
the current level even after OMP is built for the entire 20-year
evaluation period.
- Overstated delay reductions -- in reality, Phase 1 and the
full-build OMP would drastically increase delays.
- Failure to consider and evaluate alternatives to the OMP.
Alternatives have already been suggested by aviation leaders that
would reduce delays and congestion and meet projected regional
demand without the destruction and costs that the OMP would
require. Additional alternative measures include runway
configurations which were proposed by the Chicago air traffic
controllers, as well as use of congestion management techniques and
reliance on other airports, including the new south suburban
Chicago Abraham Lincoln National Airport.
- Outdated traffic data was used.
- Failure to offer alternative to loss of major hub airline's
participation.
The City is aggressively pursuing huge FAA grants -- $300
million for Phase 1 and $800 million for full OMP -- because
without substantial AIP grants, the OMP cannot be built.
Additionally, the City's financial plan currently calls for
O'Hare's two hub airlines (United and American) to agree to pay for
over $8 billion in bond debt, a debt burden to which neither
airline has yet agreed. Without the $800 million in federal grants,
the crushing airline debt burden will be even greater.
By law, Campbell Hill contends, the FAA cannot grant the City's
request for federal funding because the City does not meet the
required federal BCA tests. "The City requires massive amounts of
federal funds to finance the OMP and as a result, the failure to
meet legally required Benefit-Cost tests could cause the entire
financial "house of cards" that Daley has constructed to support
his massive O'Hare plan to collapse," said Dr. Brian Campbell
Chairman of Campbell-Hill.
Campbell Hill's analysis was funded by Bensenville and Elk Grove
Village, two neighboring communities which believe that the
region's airport problems can be solved at a lower cost with better
results and less environmental damage using the other suggested
alternatives.
"We ask the FAA and Committees of Congressional Oversight to
follow its own due process and regulations by rejecting the City's
unworkable, badly-planned and cost-burdensome proposal," said Craig
Johnson, Mayor of Elk Grove Village.