by Nora Edinger

REGIONAL EDITOR

CHARLESTON -- Reaction was mixed to a Harrison delegate's speech Friday asking the governor to expand Harrison-Marion Regional Airport instead of building a southern transportation park.

A local senator called Del. Barbara Ann Warner's speech to the House of Delegates a smokescreen. A state transportation official said Harrison-Marion has too little land for a transpark.

"I think that Del. Warner got herself in such a fix that she'll try anything to get out of it," said Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion.

Prezioso was referring to controversial 2001 legislation that reorganized the local airport authority to include state transportation and aviation industry interests. He is preparing to introduce legislation that would essentially reverse the bill for which Warner was a key sponsor.

Warner, D-Harrison, agreed her speech was related to the 2001 bill, but said it was intended to clarify her motives, not to step back from the effort. She still believes the board needs to include more aviation experts to prepare for future expansion.

She also believes Harrison-Marion is a more logical site for the state-level transpark than a location the state has picked in Lincoln County. That site and the transpark concept have been hotly debated for several years.

"It's not just pie in the sky. It's something real, something you can see," said Warner, chair of the House Transportation Committee.

In her speech, she said the highway infrastructure and extensive development already located in and around Harrison-Marion are key reasons it deserves a closer look.

Lowell Johnson, a Department of Transportation official who is working on the transpark, agreed with some of Warner's comments.

"Benedum (Harrison-Marion) is a kind of model that we're looking at," Johnson said of planning the transpark.

He praised the local airport's development pattern and said the state remains committed to continuing it. But, Johnson said Harrison-Marion could not fill the need of a transpark, however, because it does not have enough land.

The Lincoln County site could eventually include two 10,000-foot runways if the entire project is constructed. State cost estimates for the project are $450 million and an earliest completion date is late 2006.

This was the second time in a week Harrison-Marion Regional Airport made an appearance at the Legislature.

Prezioso announced early this week he has a bill in the drafting stage that would formalize the current authority membership structure. Now, Harrison and Marion county commissions appoint all members.

He plans to pass the bill by the six commissioners involved and, if agreement can be reached, introduce it late this month.

HB 3252, which Prezioso's bill could negate, was struck down by a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge last summer. Circuit Judge Herman Canaday said the bill was unconstitutional special legislation.

The state has until Feb. 10 to file an appeal, which it had not done as of Friday afternoon.

Regional Editor Nora Edinger can be reached at 626-1447 or by e-mail at nedinger@exponent-telegram.com