Amendment Blocks Plan That Could Affect Airspace Over SE Texas

The House has passed an amendment that would prohibit the Federal Aviation Administration from using money from an appropriations bill to eliminate or consolidate Terminal Radar Control Centers (TRACON) at airports across the country, including the Southeast Texas Regional Airport.

Congressman Ted Poe joined three other congressmen in filing the amendment. The House passed the amendment Tuesday by a vote of 268-158.

"This is a major victory for the Southeast Texas Regional Airport," said Poe. "This amendment blocks all funding appropriated to the FAA to consolidate TRACON facilities across the country, including those at Southeast Texas Regional Airport in Beaumont. I will continue to work in bipartisan fashion with my colleagues in Congress and local officials to put an end to the notion of consolidation in our area indefinitely. The safety and security in our skies is far more valuable than any attempt by the FAA to save money. The FAA failed to prove time and time again that these proposed consolidations will save any money or jobs."

"The FAA's efforts to save money cannot come before the safety of the American public," said Poe. "In my district, the plan to consolidate the TRACON at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport would jeopardize air safety not only in the Beaumont area, but increase the air traffic in the Houston area as well. This amendment will withhold funding appropriated to the FAA to perform the consolidations."

The FAA has announced a plan to consolidate nearly 50 TRACON systems in over 30 states throughout the country. The TRACON system guides planes within a 50 mile radius of the airport on their final approaches. In many regions throughout the country, the TRACON overseas the approaches of flights in and out of the airport in which the system is physically located, but also for flights in and out of smaller regional airports.

Congressman Poe will be hosting a public meeting to discuss the implications of the proposed TRACON changes at the Southeast Regional Airport on Tuesday, August 7, 2007, from 7pm to 8pm at the Port Arthur YMCA located at 6760 9th Avenue in Port Arthur.