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LaHood, lawmakers react to audit of DC Metro expansion to Dulles airport
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and lawmakers who have vested interests in the proposed expansion of Washington, D.C.'s MetroRail to Dulles International Airport reacted Tuesday to a report criticizing the panel overseeing the project.
The Department of Transportation's Inspector General conducted an audit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which is building the railway to Dulles that will eventually be operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
The audit was requested by Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf (R), who has filed legislation to create a permanent inspector general for the agency that is at the center of a funding fight over the proposed new railway.
Wolf said in a letter to LaHood Tuesday that he was "deeply troubled" by the MWAA audit, which he said found that the board was insufficiently transparent.
"I requested this audit last year and am sure you agree that the report raises significant concerns about the current board's policies and procedures, including contracting practices, ethics and transparency," Wolf wrote. "This demands immediate action."
Wolf said the "most egregious" findings of the inspector general's report were about the airport panel's contracting procedures, which has emerged as a sticking point in negotiations over the proposal rail line to Dulles.
The first phase of construction of the railway, which is scheduled to open next year, is being built with the help of a $900 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. But state and local Republicans in Virginia have taken issue with a provision in construction plans for the second phase of the proposed railway that would give preference in contracting to companies that use unionized workers.
The provision was drafted by the airport board, which was appointed mostly by Democrats.
But Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday after the release of inspector general's report that he had confidence in the beleaguered panel.
"I am confident in MWAA’s new leadership," LaHood said in a statement released by his office. "They have assured me that they will take every step necessary to achieve greater transparency and accountability going forward."
LaHood has previously intervened to negotiate stalemates in funding for the construction of the railway to Dulles, which has called one of the most important public transportation projects in the country, and he met with local officials again recently.
He said Tuesday that the transportation department would appoint an "accountability officer" to ensure "MWAA’s policies and practices have additional oversight and meet high standards of ethics and fiscal responsibility.
“Past problems should not impact the progress we are making on the Silver Line, a project critical to the future economic success of the Washington region," LaHood said.
The first phase of the proposed rail line to Dulles is scheduled to open next year. Plans called for construction of the second half to begin in 2013, and the station at Dulles airport was scheduled to open in 2016.
