Apparently, it wasn’t enough that Democrat John Murtha made sure some $150 million taxpayer dollars was used to fund the Murtha Airport in Johnstown, PA during his lifetime as a Congressman. Thanks to Mr. Murtha, who died more than a year ago, the airport now has a $7 million air traffic control tower, $14 million hanger, and $18 million runway big enough to land any airplane in North America. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have many airplanes.
There are only three flights that arrive daily, all from Washington D.C. “About half the cost of every ticket, $100, is paid by American taxpayers, a subsidy Congress voted to renew just this past February.”
Although Mr. Murtha is no longer here to actually vote for even more pork barrel spending as he did during his career in Congress, the taxpayers have flushed more money down the drain for this airport. “The Murtha airport has received from the federal government $559,476 in stimulus funds to rehab a back-up runway, $82,551 for air guidance signs, $226,638 to improve the taxiway, $19,412 wildlife hazard assessments, $95,950 and $62,325 to install weather reporting.”
While I honor Mr. Murtha’s bravery and service to our country during the Vietnam War, I deplore the use of federal taxpayer money to fund these type of projects. If Pennsylvanians want a local airport, they should pay for it.
