Buy or lease a fleet?
Buy or lease a fleet?
27 March 2014
published by www.durangoherald.com
USA — Wayne Coulsons C-130 used to fly with Air Force One, dragging a communication cable through the ocean so the president could talk to nuclear submarines.
On Wednesday, it lined up next to a runway at an airport south of Denver, came in low, and in a two-second burst emptied its load of simulated fire retardant in front of a phalanx of television and newspaper cameras.
Its a sight Sen. Steve King wants to see a lot more often in Colorado. King, R-Grand Junction, arranged with Coulson to show off his Next Generation aerial firefighting tanker for legislators and the media Wednesday.
King called in air support to back up his controversial proposal to spend up to $12 million to lease or buy heavy helicopters and planes to fight fires in Colorado.
It is hard to understand why weve gone two years of us talking about this and still not seen anything done, King said.
But skeptics question the high costs and uncertain benefits of aerial firefighting.
King and Senate President Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, have introduced a bill to authorize the state to buy or lease three firefighting helicopters this year and four heavy air tankers next year.
But theres a loophole to Kings bill big enough to fly a C-130 through: So far, it includes no funding.
The cost for the helicopters alone could range from $8 million to $12 million a year. King called on Gov. John Hickenlooper to help secure the funding.
It is time for the governor to get in the game, King said.
Last year, the Legislature passed Kings bill to create an aerial firefighting corps, but many lawmakers questioned the hefty price tag. So instead of spending money to buy planes, the bill merely told the state Division of Fire Prevention and Control to issue a report.
That report is due April 1, and the fire division wont have any comments until then, a spokeswoman for the division said in an email.
Kings latest bill also doesnt have funding attached, but hes hoping the Legislature will come up with the money, unlike last year.
I would be unbelievably disappointed if we did that again, King said.
He has influential allies in the Senate. Sen. Gail Schwartz, chairwoman of the agriculture committee, backs him.
Its time Colorado makes sure we have the capacity to fight our fires, said Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village.
King turned to Coulson to get attention for his bill with Wednesdays air show.
Coulson is CEO of British Columbia-based Coulson Group, which is one of two companies to get a U.S. Forest Service contract for Next Generation air tankers. The Forest Services aging fleet had dwindled to as few as nine planes in recent years.
His C-130 will fight fires on federal land across the country this summer.
Coulson and King have been talking about opening a Coulson Group aviation office in Grand Junction, Kings hometown, according to a report in the Grand Junction Business Times.
Kings bill is scheduled for its first hearing in the agriculture committee the first week of April.
