Pinocchio Chronicles 17, Reigning in FAA Palomar Airport Grants,

Pinocchio Chronicles 17, Reigning in FAA Palomar Airport Grants, #305

Will the FAA and Inspector General Follow the Law?

Today a $30,000,000,000,000 U.S. debt looms or $90,000 per person. In 2000, it was 6,000,000,000,000,000 (U.S. Debt clock.org in 2000).

As interest rates rise on U.S. debt payments, interest costs will crush the United States. China holds about 1.1 trillion of the U.S. debt. So atmospheric debt creates more than money fears. And debt-related inflation will rob your pocket every time you buy something.

Congress has four ways to cut debt. Cut spending. Raise taxes. Print money until the U.S. produces crushing inflation eventually resulting in Argentinian wheelbarrows of cash to buy a loaf of bread. Or reduce government waste and fraud.

The November 2021 Office of Inspector General (OIG) DOT Audit

Two months ago the OIG began a Department of Transportation audit to see if DOT complies with the 2019 Payment Integrity and Information Act.

The DOT includes the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). So FAA grant awards to 3300 airports across the U.S. should be in the OIG audit crosshairs.

Did County Violate FAA Grant Assurances When Building and Operating Three McClellan-Palomar Airport Landfills from 1962 to 1974?

In 1958, San Diego County grabbed federal money to build a Palomar 3700 x 100 foot runway. (Project #9-04—100-0801, FAAP 0801). The grant said:

6. The Sponsor (County) will … not permit any activity thereon which would interfere with its use for aeronautical purposes.

7. The Sponsor will prevent the use of any land either within or outside the boundaries of the Airport in any manner which would create a hazard to the landing, taking off, or maneuvering of aircraft at the Airport, or otherwise limit the usefulness of the Airport.

In the 60s and 70s, county built and operated 3 landfills about 1,000 feet from the Palomar runway and taxiway. The landfills created bird strike risks to aircraft engines, caused Palomar buildings and runway settlement problems, and resulted in a subsurface methane gas collection system a few feet below the Palomar east end runway.

In 2013, County consultant SCS Engineers identified the severe risks of an aircraft crashing into the landfill area. County erroneously later denied that this longtime county consultant was qualified to prepare the report and buried the report.

The FAA: Sleeping on the Job or ?

When asked whether the FAA was enforcing federal grant conditions at Palomar Airport, the FAA Planning Office on June 8, 2020 told the FAA Audit and Evaluation Office and the OIG: “The Federal-aid Airport Program, a precursor to the AIP (Airport Improvement Program) began well after 1959.”

Questions the OIG should be asking the FAA in its 2022 audit include:

1. Why did the FAA tell OIG that the Federal- Aid Airport Program (FAAP) began “well after 1959” when the Commerce Department gave county the Palomar FAAP 0801 grant in 1958?
2. Didn’t the 1958 grant bar use of Palomar Airport property for non-airport uses?
3. Why did the county build and operate 3 landfills on Palomar for 14 years?
4. Does the closed landfill subsurface plastic methane gas collection piping below the sandy Palomar runway east end elevate the risk to aircraft crashing into the area?
5. Why does the County 2021 PMP estimate a $125,000,000 cost to extend the runway over the landfill and to add EMAS safety systems when the 1958 grant gave county less than $2,000,000 (1958 amount adjusted for inflation) to build 3700 feet of runway?
6. Why should the FAA grant monies to the County to pay for extraordinary runway construction costs that resulted from the county violating the 1958 grant?