White House's Airport Stimulus Misguided?

The Obama administration used economic stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn't meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants, a government watchdog said Monday.

Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel said he plans to examine the Federal Aviation Administration's process for selecting programs for the $1.1 billion in grant money.

Among the projects that Scovel said didn't meet the FAA's minimum score was $14 million that went to Akiachak, Alaska, a town of 659 residents, to replace its airfield. The town has a seaplane and is only 14 nautical miles from the state's fourth busiest airport.

Nearly $15 million went to another Alaska town, Ouzinkie, that has 167 residents, to replace its gravel runway. The town has a float-plane landing area in its harbor. Barges also provide cargo delivery from Kodiak, 10 miles away.

Other projects Scovel said didn't meet FAA's threshold were $4.8 billion for a new taxiway in Findlay, Ohio; $2.2 million for a runway extension at Wilbur Airport in Washington, $2 million for an apron at Warrensburg-Skyhaven Airport in Missouri, and $909,806 to design a new runway at a small airport near Dover, Del. He said those airports don't provide commercial passenger service and have limited flight operations.

"According to FAA, the Dover project was chosen because it was the state's only project that was 'ready to go,"' Scovel said in a letter to the department.

CBS News recently reported on $100 million in stimulus money being spent on tiny airports that cater to recreational flyers, corporate jets and remote communities as part of the Department of Transportation's "Airport Improvement Program."

From airport improvements to highway construction, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported that some of the federal programs getting the most stimulus money also represent the greatest possibility of waste and fraud.

In touting its stimulus package earlier this year, the Obama administration promised to watch spending like a hawk.

"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will put a stop to it," President Obama pledged back in February.

But in reality, federal agencies are largely left to monitor their own spending, said Attkisson, and new findings continue to show there's how hard they're really trying to expose waste and abuse in their own agencies.

Scovel also cited four grants to recipients that have a history of mismanaging government money, "raising doubts about their ability to ensure (stimulus) funds are effectively administered." The four grantees are Guam International Airport Authority, Owensboro-Daviess County, Ky.; Pitkin County, Colo., and Puerto Rico Port Authority.

Owensboro-Daviess County, for example, received $658,730 despite reports citing its poor administration of federal airport funds for 10 of the past 11 years, Scovel said.

DOT Deputy Secretary John Porcari said the grants criticized by Scovel were part of an effort to help small airports meet safety standards.

Porcari said Scovel's description of the projects as imprudent was "an overstatement." He said the projects would ensure that Alaskans had access to emergency medical service.

For selecting stimulus projects, the FAA scored projects on a 100-point scale. A score of 62 qualified for money. The projects cited by Scovel scored between 40 and 50 points. Porcari said the scoring system was just a way to help focus stimulus spending.