The Kaine administration wants to put the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in charge of running the $4 billion Metrorail-to-Dulles heavy rail project — one of the largest public works projects in Virginia history — but the authority asserts that it is completely exempt from federal and state information disclosure laws.
The MWAA claims that its status as an “interstate compact” puts it outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, reports Examiner.com.
Let’s add it all up.
(1) The MWAA has institutional interests distinct from those of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
(2) The MWAA is governed by a board, the majority of whose representatives come from Maryland and Washington, D.C.
(3) Under the Kaine plan, the MWAA will set the toll rates along the Dulles Toll Road, affecting tens of thousands of Virginia commuters.
(4) Under the Kaine plan, the MWAA will control who gets the design and build contracts for the heavy rail line.
(5) And now we find that the MWAA deems itself exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
Stewart Schwartz sums up the situation nicely: “It simply reinforces our contention that the Airports Authority is too unaccountable to be given responsibility over the toll road, its revenues and the Dulles rail project.”
