Wednesday, April 26, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Sisters Eagle Airport —
more than an airport
By Benny and Julie Benson
Owners, Sisters Eagle Airport
Letters to the Editor…
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ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
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To The Editor:
We are nearing the 10th anniversary of
the Great Recession. How are Trump and his
billionaire cronies celebrating? By revers-
ing or scaling back the regulations that were
put into place to prevent the kinds of risky
practices that caused the recession in the first
place! Of course! Perfectly logical! The far
right never met a regulation they didn’t hate,
regardless of common sense.
Do people think these actions were
Obama/Democrat/partisan? These regula-
tions were developed by the best econo-
mists in the world in direct response to the
practices that triggered the recession, simi-
lar to the rules that were instituted after the
Great Depression. Anyone who remem-
bers sub-prime mortgages, credit default
swaps, collateralized debt obligations,
too-big-to-fail, etc., ought to realize these
regulations should be strengthened, not
weakened. We should be evolving toward a
more stable economy by learning from past
mistakes.
Scaling back these regulations is not
fiscally conservative — on the contrary,
it’s very risky. As long as the risk is aimed
squarely at the middle and lower class, and
away from the wealthy elite, I guess the sup-
posedly conservative far right doesn’t mind
gambling, after all.
If some of Trump’s support came from
folks frustrated with the slow pace of eco-
nomic recovery, how does that square with
policies that risk another downturn? Slow
recovery would seem like Nirvana compared
to another recession.
Stuart Scofield
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Rain
Chance Rain/Snow Chance Showers
51/31
49/28
50/27
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
56/36
57/34
57/na
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From the outset, it has
been our goal that the Sisters
Eagle Airport was more
than just an airport. We see
it as community venue and
as an economic engine for
both tourism and business
aviation.
On April 20, 2017, the
Oregon Department of
Aviation board unanimously
voted, for a second time, to
add the Sisters Eagle Airport
to the list within the State
Aviation Plan of “Airports of
Significance,” also known as
Appendix M, or Exhibit 2.
The determination was
based on criteria set forth in
ORS836.610 which includes:
1. Provides important links in
air traffic; 2. Provides essen-
tial safety or emergency
services; or 3. Provides eco-
nomic benefit to the county
where the airport is located.
ODA staff reviewed data sup-
plied by the Airport owner,
public comments submitted
during the process, held a
public hearing, and deter-
mined that the Sisters Airport
met all three criteria.
We’re delighted to have
once again been recognized
by the Oregon Department
of Aviation as an Airport of
Significance. We are com-
mitted to the success of the
Sisters Eagle Airport and
are now looking forward to
sitting down with ODOT to
address their concerns per-
taining to the ConnectOregon
Grant.
In response to the recent
notification given to Sisters
Eagle Airport by ODOT, and
the recent press surrounding
this issue, we wanted to per-
sonally share a statement to
provide the community with
an update in our own words.
We have received notifi-
cation of ODOT’s demand
for repayment, reviewed the
issues, and have requested
and been granted a meet-
ing with ODOT on May 3,
2017. We take this matter
very seriously on both a pro-
fessional and personal level
and are working to resolve
with ODOT as quickly as
possible.
Eleven years ago, our
family moved to Sisters,
looking for a better way of
life. Our sensitivity for the
environment and engineering
expertise led to the found-
ing of ENERGYneering
Solutions Inc. (ESI). ESI is
an innovative engineering,
construction, and operations
firm specializing in renew-
able energy, biogas collec-
tion, pretreatment systems,
biogas-to-energy facili-
ties, and biomass thermal
facilities.
The company has grown
to become one of the largest
private employers in Sisters.
Located at the Sisters Eagle
Airport, ESI has benefited
from the unique combination
of employee lifestyle, high-
speed communications, and
immediate access to air travel
allowing us to run a world-
class engineering firm in the
heart of Central Oregon.
We have always been and
remain deeply committed to
building the community of
Sisters. In 2009, we started
negotiations to purchase and
improve the Sisters Airport.
At the time, the airport was
in a state of disrepair. In
2011, the State Review cate-
gorized the runway at the air-
port as a “Failed Runway.”
From 2011 through 2013,
through a Public Private
Partnership (P3), we worked
with ConnectOregon and a
self-funded private match to
replace and widen the pub-
lic-use runway. Additionally,
we added a fuel station for
local and visiting pilots.
In 2013, to further
improve the airport for the
community, we applied for
and were awarded a sec-
ond ConnectOregon grant
to improve the fly-in visi-
tor parking, a taxiway, LED
runway lighting, and auto-
mated weather observation
system at the airport. The
work under both grants was
completed on schedule and
within budget. Additionally,
at our own expense, we
completed the first phase
of an approved master plan
with rental hangars for local
pilots.
With the recent letter
delivered to us by ODOT, we
can assure the community
that we have worked very
closely with ODOT through-
out the grant application and
project execution phases of
this project. Throughout this
process, we have sought to
maintain transparency and
open communication with
all our community partners.
While we were completely
shocked by ODOT’s request,
we look forward to working
in cooperation with ODOT
to reach a mutually agree-
able resolution to this matter.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.