U.S. Department of Transportation Office otthe Secretary ofTransportation



## AUG 272014
Ms. MinthaE. Roach President and CEO Knoxville Utilities Board P.O. Box 59017 Knoxville. TN 37950 DearMs. Roach: Assistant Secretary 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, OC 20590

Thankyou for your letter, addressed to Secretary Foxx, supporting the proposal submitted by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority for a grant under the U.S. Departmentof Transportation's Small Community Air Service Development Program. Secretary Foxx asked that I respond to you onhis behalf. The Small Community Air Service Development Program was established to help smaller communities address air service deficiencies, particularly issues relatedto high airfares and insufficient service. Underthe statute, the Department may make a maximum of40 grant awards eachyear, althoughno more than four may be to communitiesinthe same State. To provide communities withlatitude in developing solutionsto their air service deficiencies, the statute provides flexibility 

### inthe types ofair service development projects that can be funded. On June 30, the Department issued an order setting a deadline ofJuly 31 for applications. As these grantrequests are pendingbefore the Department, I cannot comment onthe merits ofany particularproposaL I assure you, however, thattheDepartment will give full and fair consideration to all proposals thathave beenproperly filed. As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy ofyour letter and this response inDocket DOT-OST-2014-0113 as a contact outside the record ofthis matter. I appreciate your interestin this program. Sincerely yours,

Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International AffairsKnoxville Utilities Board



### August 15, 2014
The Honorable Anthony Foxx, Secretary United States Department ofTransportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590 RE: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0113 

### DearSecretary Foxx: Iam writing you in support ofthe application of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and the Competitive Airfare Partnership forthe 2014 Small Community Air Service Development Grant program. I hope you will give favorable consideration to this proposal. The Knoxville Utilities Board is the provider of electric, gas, water, and wastewater services to over400,000 customers in the greater Knoxville area. Part of our mission is to support growth in the communities we serve, and we are very engaged with the local economic development entities that regularly recruit businesses to the area. One factor that has a sizeable impact on our ability to recruit large companies to the area is the cost of air travel. Knoxville's grant application seeks to address this issue by increasing airline competition at McGhee Tyson Airport. Ifthe grant application is approved, Knoxville will be able to recruit and provide startup marketing support for new low-fare airline service at our airport. Lowering the cost of airtravel for the long term will be an important enhancement to our marketabilityfor attracting and retaining businesses in our community. Thank you for the opportunity to express my support for this project. I hope you will give it yourfullest consideration. Sincerely,

# lftw~~ Mintha E. 

### Roach President and CEO



# lrj[iii{IJ:IfiJ•ffW Electricity • Gas • Water • Wastewater P.O. Box 59017 ·Knoxville, TN 37950-9017 • (865) 524-2911 • www.kub.org