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Senate conferees have now been appointed to iron out differences between the House- and Senate-passed Highway Reauthorization Bills, and HAI members are strongly encouraged to weigh in with their U.S. Senators to oppose the Alexander amendment attached to the Senate version of the bill, S. 1813. The amendment would usurp FAA authority to regulate air tour operators and instead allow the National Park Service to exert unacceptable influence over aviation related matters when air tour operations occur over our National Parks.
In particular, if you reside in a state represented by one of the Senate conferees, your help is critical in getting the message to the actual decision-makers in Washington that the Alexander amendment is unacceptable and would dangerously marginalize the FAA’s statutory role in overseeing air safety.
Contact information for all U.S. Senators may be found at www.senate.gov.
The Senate conferees and their Washington, D.C., telephone numbers are:
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Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) 202-224-3553
James Inhofe (R-Okla.) 202-224-4721
Max Baucus (D-Mont.) 202-224-2651
Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) 202-224-6472
Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) 202-224-2152
Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) 202-224-5842
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) 202-224-6542
Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) 202-224-5274
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) 202-224-4744
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) 202-224-5922
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) 202-224-5251
Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) 202-224-5744
David Vitter (R-La.) 202-224-4623
John Hoeven (R-N.D.) 202-224-2551
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Senator Alexander developed his amendment without the participation of the affected stakeholders and without any consultation from the air tour industry. This dangerous, precedent-setting amendment jeopardizes passenger safety and thousands of air tour-related jobs during a time of high unemployment, in addition to threatening the very existence of a vital tourism-based industry.
Among the talking points you may wish to use in explaining the perils of allowing the Alexander amendment to remain in the final Highway Reauthorization Bill that will be signed into law:
■ The Alexander amendment would facilitate the National Park Service in being able to inappropriately influence the selection of air tour routes when the NPS has no expertise in the regulation of air carriers or airspace management, and has been openly hostile to the air tour operators.
■ The amendment would inappropriately give the Director of the National Park Service full unilateral authority over airspace above national parks, allowing him to eliminate the air tour industry from our national parks.
■ This amendment would lead to lost jobs for pilots, drivers, guides, and support staff of air tour providers and the local businesses that rely on them, but will cause a ripple effect of lower manufacturing employment through the helicopter parts and maintenance industry.
■ The helicopter manufacturing sector has come to rely on the ‘early adopter’ purchases of quiet technology aircraft by the air tour industry to support an entire manufacturing and maintenance system in the United States.
See the original link here
Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 (Archive on Monday, January 01, 0001)
Posted by NStaff
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