NRDC, Local Opponents Favor Extending Runway Into Forest Park

The FAA has made it clear that the status quo at our airport is not acceptable. To quote the FAA's Final Environmental Impact Statement: The status quo at the current airport "is not reasonable, feasible, practicable or prudent." That's pretty clear.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other local opponents to airport relocation favor extending the existing runway system into Forest Park. In order to bring the airport up to federal safety and design standards, the Airport Authority would have to involuntarily take between 100 and 200 homes in Forest Park. The existing site solution would also require SR390 to be tunneled under the extended runway system.

There are several problems with this idea, most of them very evident.

First, I doubt anyone in Bay County would like the idea of forcing families out of their homes in order to bring the the airport up to federal standards.

Second, SR390 is a primary hurricane evacuation route. A tunnel on this route could become extremely dangerous because of the storm surge that accompanies hurricanes.

And third, the cost of NRDC's proposed solution would be quite high - and there would be no funds from the sale of the existing airport to help pay for it. In the end, we'd be left with an expensive band-aid solution that would have to be fixed later.

The NRDC is largely a group of New York City lawyers. They are not aviation experts. And they certainly do not know enough about us to know what's best for Bay County. The solution they are proposing would end up doing more harm than good.