Google subsidiary to run nearby federal airfield
Feb 10, 2014 10:51 PM (ET)
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20140211/DABSPSFG1.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. government has picked a Google subsidiary
to run and renovate a federal airfield that is frequently used for the
personal flights of the Internet company's billionaire executives.
The decision announced Monday clears the way for Google's Planetary
Ventures LLC to take over management of the 1,000-acre Moffett Federal
Airfield, a former U.S. Navy based 4 miles from Google's Mountain View,
Calif., headquarters. The airfield, which was built in the 1930s, has
been managed by NASA's Ames Research Center for the past 23 years.
Financial terms of the new arrangement still must be worked out among
Google, NASA and the General Services Administration.
As part of the deal, Google Inc. must renovate the airfield's three
hangars, including one that is a Silicon Valley landmark because of its
massive size and location off a major highway. Google also has agreed to
upgrade a golf course located next to the airfield.
"We are delighted to move ahead in the selection process and we look
forward to working with both GSA and NASA to preserve the heritage of
Moffett Federal Airfield," Google said in a statement Monday.
Government officials hailed Google's selection as a boon for taxpayers.
Besides covering the day-to-day expenses for managing the airfield,
Google is also paying for expensive repairs unlikely ever to be financed
by the government.
Restoring the airfield's most prominent structure, the 200-foot-tall
Hangar One, will be particularly expensive. Hangar One's original siding
was removed because of contamination from toxic lead and asbestos,
raising the risks that the historic edifice might eventually have to be
torn down. The cost of covering the now-skeletal hangar is expected to
be more than $40 million.
"NASA's partnership with the private sector will allow the agency to
restore this treasure for more efficient use," said Dan Tangherlini,
administrator of the General Services Administration.
The decision to entrust Moffett's fate to Google comes just two months
after NASA's inspector general issued a report that raised questions
about whether the company's three most powerful executives had been
given a sweetheart deal while flying their personal jets and helicopters
from the airfield.
The audit found out that seven jets and two helicopters owned by Google
co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Executive Chairman Eric
Schmidt had received improper discounts on fuel that saved the three
billionaires up to $5.3 million on flights dating back to 2009. The
Google executives own the aircraft through a company called H211, which
has been paying $1.4 million annually since 2007 to lease hangar space
at Moffett.
Google's executives received the fuel discounts because of a
misunderstanding about the relationship between NASA and their aircraft,
the audit concluded. The jets were only eligible for the bargain prices
when they were carrying NASA equipment to collect climate data, but the
executives more frequently received the discounts on personal flights
that provided no benefits to the government.
Although H211 and Planetary Ventures are separate entities, a frequent
Google critic said the U.S. government is rewarding "unethical and
wrongful behavior" by awarding the Moffett management contract to the
company. "This is like giving the keys to your car to the guy who has
been siphoning gas from your tank," said John Simpson, privacy project
director for Consumer Watchdog.
Google beat out one other competitor for the Moffett contract, which
went up for bidding in May. Ames Research Center spokeswoman Jessica
Culler declined to identify the other bidder.
The current lease allowing Page, Brin and Schmidt to fly their aircraft
from Moffett is scheduled to expire in July. It's unclear whether the
executives will seek to renew the lease because they are working with a
private contractor to build another space for their planes at the Mineta
San Jose International Airport located about 10 miles from Moffett.
The pilots of commercial airlines sometimes have mistakenly made landing
approaches toward the Moffett airfield instead of the San Jose airport,
according to a review of government safety data by The Associated Press.
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