AIR TRANSPORTATION PARK Mingo County To Celebrate Official Opening Of Air Transportation Park
Reported by: Jeff Morris
Web Producer: Jeff Morris
Reported: Oct. 9, 2012 5:57 PM EDT
Eyewitness News Photo
Varney, Mingo
, West Virginia
A grand opening ceremony is scheduled Friday in Mingo County to celebrate the official opening of the new Mingo Air Transportation Park.
The event is set for 11 a.m. at the new airport site, located at Oldfield Branch, near Varney, on WV Route 52/15, also known as Mystery Mountain Road.
The event is open to the public and will conclude with a cookout.
Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, D-W.Va., will be the keynote speaker. Also scheduled to speak are representatives from the offices of Sens. Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., and state and local elected officials and representatives from the involved regulatory agencies.
The newly constructed Air Transportation Park is the product of a public/private partnership among the Mingo County Airport Authority, Alpha Natural Resources, the Federal Aviation Administration, the West Virginia Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Commission, and the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority.
As part of its post mine land use designation, Alpha Natural Resources constructed the nearly 975-acre site to rough grade in a configuration approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. In April 2008, Alpha conveyed the 975 acre site to Mingo County at zero cost to the taxpayers.
To date, the Federal Aviation Administration, together with the West Virginia Aeronautics Commission and the Mingo County Airport Authority, have completed more than $9 million worth of capital improvements for the construction of the runway, installation of wind instrumentation, lighting and perimeter fencing.
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Jeff Morris
