James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, the legislation pending before us, as the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) has just described has as its…”

“Mr. Speaker, the legislation pending before us, as the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) has just described has as its purpose to speed up construction of runways, taxiways, airside improvements at airports that have dragged on far too long in the past. Perhaps the most egregious example or comparison would be that of the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong, an airport built in the ocean in 300 meters of ocean depth, 12,500 feet runways, a 23-mile rail-truck highway link to downtown Kowloon, a terminal to handle 90,000 passengers, started at the same time as the third runway at Seattle. Chek Lap Kok has been completed at a cost of over $25 billion, is now handling 15 to 20 million passengers a year; and I was out in Seattle a year ago for the bulldozing of the first load of dirt to start work on the third Seattle runway. Now, that is an egregious example, as I said; but it is one that underscores the frustration that airport authorities, airlines, and air traveling passengers have with our airport expansion program. If we are going to accommodate the more than 1 billion passengers to use the U.S. airways in the next 5 to 10 years, then we have to do a better job of moving airport projects along to enhance and expand capacity. But it is misleading to say that environmental issues alone are the factors causing 10- to 15-year delays in building runways.”