Official Urges Surcharge at LAX for Orange County Users

If Orange County doesn’t want its own commercial airport, then those residents should pay a surcharge to use the one in Los Angeles, an L.A. airport commissioner contends.

Leland Wong, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, has asked the city attorney’s office to determine if it would be legal to charge Orange County residents extra to use L.A. International Airport.

Wong said the fees could be used to ease the effect that Orange County travelers have on L.A. International and the surrounding communities.

“The concern I have is there is a regional demand for air traffic” he said. “If LAX is going to grow, then everybody else has to step up to the plate.”

Other airports in the Los Angeles region are expanding, he said, but with the passage of an anti-airport initiative in March, Orange County appears less likely to increase air capacity.

Last year, L.A. International had 64 million passengers, 14% of whom were from Orange County, said Gail Gaddi, an airport spokeswoman.

Orange County voters in March overwhelmingly passed Measure F, which requires two-thirds voter approval before county supervisors can authorize airport projects, large jails near homes or hazardous-waste landfills.

Groups that oppose the construction of a commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station saw Wong’s comments as an attempt to coerce Orange County residents into supporting new airports.

“First of all, [Wong’s] idea is illegal,” said Meg Waters, a spokeswoman for an anti-airport coalition. “If you want to propose such a tax, then let’s tax L.A. County residents each time they come into Orange County to go to the beaches or to go to work.”

Susan Withrow, a Mission Viejo councilwoman and chairwoman of the anti-airport El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, called Wong’s proposal “the most twisted public policy rationale I’ve ever heard of.”

In addition, Wong missed his target, she said.

He should be surcharging residents living in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, she said. Air traffic projections call for those rapidly growing areas to have 16.6 million annual passengers by the year 2015, compared with a projected 12.5 million in Orange County.

“It’s discriminatory,” Withrow said. “What’s next, an iron curtain?”

Wong said he isn’t taking a punitive stab at Orange County residents.

“We have a responsibility to the residents living around LAX,” Wong said. “They’ve been telling us, why do we have to take the burden of the traffic and the noise? People there in Orange County want a quality of life. Well, guess what? So do our people.”

Bret Lobner, a Los Angeles senior assistant city attorney asked by Wong for legal advice on the idea, said it could be illegal under federal law.

Legal issues aside, Orange County needs to share the regional air traffic responsibility, said El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, whose city is plagued by noise and airport traffic.

“Leland Wong may be using the wrong vehicle here,” Gordon said, “but our feeling is that if Orange County doesn’t want to be responsible for air travel, then Orange County should be held responsible for being irresponsible.”

Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Chuck Smith, who is a part of a pro-airport majority, said he understand Wong’s message.

“From my standpoint, LAX is trying to send Orange County a message,” Smith said. “They’re saying we have to take care of Orange County’s demand. Right now, 96% of air cargo that’s generated in Orange County is trucked to LAX, Ontario or other airports. That air cargo demand in the county will triple by the year 2020.”