I’m shocked that the Tribune departed from its tradition of careful thought and factual accuracy in the March 28 editorial encouraging Gov. Rod Blagojevich to turn Peotone farmland over to U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson’s (D-Ill.) developers for airport construction. The Tribune editorial claimed that O’Hare International Airport can’t build runways fast enough to keep up with demand, implying that Peotone would address that problem.
The January 2005 Federal Aviation Administration Environmental Impact Statement on O’Hare expansion indicated that Peotone would not function as a reliever for O’Hare and that 10 years after completion could expect only 37 flights per day.
The piece also said that the Will County faction fighting for control of the proposed airport is moving a bill through Springfield that would establish a Peotone airport authority, and give control to Will County.
The bill in Springfield is an economic development district plan, and has absolutely nothing to do with being an airport authority.
Other pertinent facts ignored by the Tribune include the following:
No airlines favor the development of Peotone; the airline industry operates on a hub-and-spoke system and no one wants to land at O’Hare and take a 50-mile cab trip to Peotone for a connecting flight; Jackson’s selection of developers does not comply with federal standards for bidding and selection; the FAA is years away from issuing a decision as to whether or not Peotone may even be built; and the MidAmerica Airport in downstate Illinois, which bears striking similarities to Peotone (politically driven rather than market driven), sits virtually unused as it “celebrates” its eighth anniversary of (non) operation.
