(Washington, DC — WAMU) The body overseeing two D.C. area airports and the massive Rail-to-Dulles International Airport project in Virginia will be forced to change the way it does business.
A proposal to revamp the structure of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) made it through the legislative process as part of the spending bill that funds the U.S. Department of Transportation and was signed by the President on Friday.
The plan was pushed by Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican from Northern Virginia who had grown frustrated with MWAA’s decision making process and lack of transparency.
But even some of MWAA’s critics have expressed concern that Wolf’s plan could be bad news for regional cooperation, since it gives Virginia, which already had the most members on MWAA’s board, an even larger share of control.
The New Structure
Wolf’s plan gives the governors of Virginia and Maryland and the mayor of D.C. the power to remove appointed members at any time for cause. The President of the United States, who appoints three members of the body, has always had that power. Members will also be prohibited from serving past the end of their terms; currently board members serve until their replacement is appointed. Wolf had complained earlier this year about a member whose term had ended in January of 2009, but continued voting by proxy from Africa because a replacement had not been named.
The plan also increases the size of the Authority from 13 to 17 members, and gives Virginia a larger share of membership. In the 13-member structure, five members were appointed by the Governor of Virginia, three members were appointed by the mayor of D.C., two by Maryland’s governor, and three by the President.
The 17 member board will include seven members from Virginia, four from D.C., three from Maryland, and three Presidential appointees.
MWAA Faces Off with NoVa County Leaders
Wolf was far from MWAA’s only critic; the Authority had come under increased scrutiny because of ballooning cost projections for the more than $6 billion Rail-to-Dulles project, and a perceived lack of cooperation with elected officials in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties — where the Metrorail extension will be located.
Relations between the counties and MWAA reached an all-time low after MWAA refused to reconsider a decision to place the planned Metrorail station at Dulles International Airport underground.
County leaders wanted the station above ground because that option was cheaper, by about $500 million. The standoff put funding for the second phase of the gargantuan project in jeopardy.
Eventually, U.S. Transportation Secretary stepped in to bring the two sides together — and MWAA’s board agreed to ditch the underground plan.
Wolf says his plan is fair.
“Both of the airports [Dulles International and Reagan National] are in the state of Virginia,” he says. “That rail system will be in the state of Virginia. The tolls that are paying for the rail system are all going to be paid for by Virginians.”
