Scott Fitzgerald: “Yes. What happened there was that Governor Edgar, who was Governor in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was moving forward…”

“Yes. What happened there was that Governor Edgar, who was Governor in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was moving forward with this south suburban airport. When President Clinton took office, at the request of the mayor, the FAA removed the south suburban airport from the so-called NPIAS list, the National Plan for Integrated Airport Systems, for airport improvements. Otherwise, we might have that airport now. The Chicago airport capacity study of 1986 to 1988 had said we needed the south suburban airport by the year 2000. The city of Chicago blocked that by calling President Clinton and asking him to remove the Peotone project because it was not within the political jurisdiction of the city of Chicago from that planning list. Aviation capacity around the country and in Chicago would be far greater today if we had that airport up and running. We would not be having this discussion. So this has, indeed, been going on a very long time. I believe, as Governor Edgar did believe, and as did Governor Thompson before him, that we ought to go forward and build that south suburban airport. It is a major issue for Congressman Jackson. It is interesting, as a Senator for our whole State, I do not think it is in our interest to concentrate all our economic development within one 7,000-acre spot at O'Hare. I have 2.5 million people who live in the south suburbs of Illinois who have to drive 3, 3½ hours to get up to O'Hare to wait in line because it is too congested.”