Officials predict thousands of jobs, billions in cash for economy

$1.6B cargo airport eyed

By JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@timesleader.com

HAZLE TWP. – Declaring the coal mining industry a thing of the past, government and business leaders Wednesday turned to the skies and announced plans to build a $1.6 billion cargo airport to carry the region’s economy into the future.

The joint public and private project would sit on a 4,300-acre site next to the Humboldt Industrial Park, create thousands of jobs on site and off and contribute billions to the economy, officials said.

No federal monies would be spent on construction; instead state, Luzerne County and private funding would be used, said state Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township.

The representative whose district encompasses the proposed site said the state would become a partner in the project if the airport received air space approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. None has yet been given, but it will be pursued once the county creates the governing body or authority for the airport.

“We have the opportunity with a project of this magnitude to become a transportation hub, a global transportation hub,” Eachus said at a press conference attended by government, business and labor leaders at First Quality Nonwovens Inc. within the industrial park.

Luzerne County would own the facility to be developed by Gladstone Partners LP, a private group made up of Hazleton attorney Robert Powell, attorney Gregory Zappala and former Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano.

Eachus and others credited Marsicano, an airline pilot, with initiating the project that has since been backed up by two studies, one done in 2004 and another recently by airport development consultant Leigh Fisher Associates.

The idea was good in 1999 and better now because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Eachus said.

“Everything has changed from the standpoint of screening cargo and relating it to national security,” he added.

Outlining the benefits the proposed airport would offer, Eachus said it would be state of the art, solely devoted to cargo, have access to rail and truck transportation and do the job more efficiently than crowded airports in New York and New Jersey.

But he harkened back to the economic benefits it would provide and used Memphis, Tenn., as an example. Citing information from the Memphis Chamber of Commerce and the FAA, he said the cargo airport there created 156,000 jobs and generates $5.6 billion in wages. The total economic benefit to the greater Memphis economy is $19.5 billion. The area is expanding the cargo center to claim a larger share of the air cargo market.

The county signed on after Gladstone revived the project with the second study, said Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak.

“This initiative does with one swing of the bat, one swing of the bat, it wipes out 30, 40, 50 years we have struggled to re-identify ourselves due to the loss of the coal mining industry,” he said. “This initiative replaces that industry.”

Among the letters of support for the project Skrepenak cited was one from newly elected U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock. The congressman framed the project within the context of national security, saying it would use state-of-the-art equipment to inspect cargo coming into and leaving the country.

“It lends itself to keep all Americans safe,” Skrepenak said.

The timing of the project is right because Congress set a time frame of three years for airports to have the ability to check all air cargo, explained Powell, managing general partner of Gladstone.

“It allows us to take the momentum of homeland security and the tremendous growth in commercial activity in air cargo and marry the two at a location that is perfectly suited,” Powell said.

He estimated that the airport could be built within 24 to 30 months upon receiving federal and state regulatory approval. The facility would have a 13,000-foot runway, 22 million square feet of building space and the potential to contribute $17.1 billion to the regional economy.

Powell declined to answer specifically how much his group has spent on the project and how much it intends to invest.

“I prefer not to quantify this as private investors, but I can tell you it is well into the six figures in time and in money,” he said.

By relying on private funds and commitments from the state and county, the project can avoid being slowed down waiting for federal money, Eachus said.

To date, the reaction has been positive and no one has come up with a counter idea, he said.

“This is a big dream and there are steps to be taken,” Eachus said. “But it’s worth the investment, the public investment that the county and state will put forward and it’s also opportunity to induce significant private entrepreneurial investment into our economy.”