HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

2 STATE HOUSE STATION _. ~? ;~n/ENT OF 

AUGUSTA MAINE 04333-0002: ··'~,·)~Q8JATION , ni.J'J''l'~TIO~ 0 (207) 287-1400 '. ~. I" en;'i. 1, 0 

Sharon Anglin Treat TTY: (207) 287-4469 t?: , ~ .- S I:) I: 54 

22 Page Street 

Hallowell, ME 04347 

Residence: (207) 623-7161 

Fax: (207) 622-3302 

State House E-Mail: 

RepSharon.Treat@legislature.maine.gov 

Mr. Dennis De Vany 

Mr. Michael Martin 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Comments for U.S. Department of Transportation 

Docket # DOT-OST-1997-2784 

EAS Airline Contract for the Augusta, Maine State Airport 

Dear Mr. De Vany and Me Martin: 

September 24, 2010 

I am providing these comments on behalf on constituents in my legislative district, Maine 

House District 79 (Farmingdale, Hallowell and West Gardiner). I have been contacted by 

residents of District 79 who rely on the Maine State Airport in Augusta, Maine for 

reliable transportation and particularly, for business travel. 

We ask that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recognize that constituents 

of others than the Augusta City Council are served by the Augusta State Airport and the 

airline chosen by USDOT for the EAS contract to serve that airport. The Augusta City 

Council clearly supported the recommendations of its own Airport Committee-but that 

Committee's advice, to recommend Cape Air over USAir, is at complete odds with 

overwhelming public response to the contrary. 

As a State Representative representing three towns in close proximity with Augusta, I ask 

that you select to continue the service of US Air at the Augusta Airport. 

My constituents have expressed their concerns to me regarding this issue. One concern I 

have heard repeatedly is that the Augusta City Council, despite the Mayor and councilors 

admitting that the public input was virtually all in favor of US Air retaining its service to 

the state airport, agreed to the recommendation of the Airport Committee. It is my 

understanding that the City Council's recommendation does not reflect the opinion of 

even its own constituency (population 18,440), much less the airport-using community of 

the surrounding areas outside of Augusta. 

District 79 Fanningdale, Hallowell and West Gardiner 

Printed on rccycled paper 
Another concern is that the recommendation given by the Airport Committee is poorly 

supported. The process with which they obtained and formed their recommendation at no 

time asked the Augusta Airport users (aside from the pilots and occasional commercial 

flyers) for input. The public was not invited nor welcome to attend the August 11,2010, 

presentations of the two carriers competing for the contract in order to ask questions and 

judge for themselves the quality of the proposals. 

Further, I ask that you consider the following which obviously are pushed aside in 

Federal EAS/air regulations to accommodate the likes of Cape Air. Both federal and 

state government, respectively, should not support or actually award a contract to a 

carrier which: 

• Admits to having no ability to accommodate the handicapped who cannot make it 

on their own into the aircraft 

• Utilizes aircrafts without secure flight decks 

• Utilizes aircrafts with one pilot without any second pilot backup incase of 

emergency 

• Allows passengers to sit at the controls in the co-pilot's seat during commercial 

passenger flights 

Thank you for your consideration of these comments. 

Sincerely, 

State 

s~~¥~ Representative