U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office cf the Secretary 

cf Transportation 

SEP 19 2014 

The Honorable Diane Mitsch Bush 

Colorado House of Representatives 

200 East Colfax A venue, Room 271 

Denver, CO 80203 

Dear Ms. Bush: 

Assistant Secretary 

.,-i, {"-~ -) 

t.) ... ) 

1200 New Jer.:;ey Avenue. SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Thank you for your letter, addressed to Secretary Foxx} supporting the proposal submitted by 

Yampa Valley Regional Airport for a grant under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small 

Community Air Service Development Program. Secretary Foxx asked that I respond to you on 

his behalf. 

The Small Community Air Service Deve!.opment Program was established to help smaller 

communities address air service deficiencies, particularly issues related to high airfares and 

insufficient service. Under the statute$ the Department may make a maximum of 40 grant 

awards .each year, although no more than four may be to communities in the same State. To 

provide communities with latitude in developing solutions to their air service deficiencies, the 

statute provides flexibility in the types of air service development projects that can be funded. 

On June 30; the Department issued an order setting a deadline of July 31 for applications. As 

these grant requests are pending before the Department, I cannot comment on the merits of any 

particular proposal. I assure you, however, that the Department will give full and fair 

consideration to all proposals that have been properly filed. 

As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2014-0113 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this program. 

Sincerely yours, 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
State Representative 

DIANE MITSCH BUSH 

Colorado State Capitol 

HD26 Eagle & Routt 

200 East Colfax Avenue, Room 271 

Denver, Colorado 80203 

Office: 303-866-2923 

Email: diane.mitschbush.house@state.co.us 

COLORADO 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

State Capitol 

July 31, 2014 

Mr. Anthony Foxx, 

Secretary of Transportation 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, Southeast 

Washington D.C. 20590 

Denver 

80203 

Committee Member: 

Agriculture, Livestock, 

Natural Resources 

Transportation & Energy 

Committee 

Reference: DOT-OST-2014-0113 Small Community Air Service Development Program 2014 

Dear Mr. Secretary, 

I am writing this letter to express my very strong support for the Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) Grant application of the Yampa Valley Regional Airport, which serves Hayden and 

Steamboat Springs and much of northwestern Colorado. 

I am alarmed by the poor air service this airport and region receives outside of the winter ski season. 

As the Grant application notes, only one airline offers air service from April to December and flight 

frequendes are limited and airfares are extremely high, well above national averages, well above 

those at Denver and often well above those at other Colorado airports as well. 

The Airport's Grant application is for a modest $300,000, matched by $300,000 in local funding. The 

purpose of the Grant is to recruit a second airline to provide service outside of winter, and thus provide 

some schedule options and airfare competition in northwest Colorado during that period. 

The Airport and Routt County and their community partners, including the City of Steamboat Springs, 

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association and the LMD, 

have a well thought out plan for recruiting a second carrier, but some community financial support of 

that carrier will be needed to bring in new competition. 

This seems to me to be a perfect use for the SCASD Grant program, as it is intended to aid smaller 

cities with higher fares and limited competition. 

I urge you to give this Grant application your fullest consideration and I wish to be advised of the ultimate disposition of this Grant application. 

Sincerely, 

Colorado State Representative House District 26 Diane Mitsch Bush