Should the government continue to give subsidies to rural airport?

Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Before Congress went on its summer break, House Republican leaders took a shot at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other Democrats by cutting money for rural airline service in their states.

Republicans complained that the subsidies are wasteful, and some even talked about letting the market determine whether the airlines could survive.

That could spell trouble for Ely, where the airport and citizens have benefited from the government’s Essential Air Service program. The program subsidizes commercial service to some rural communities based on need, providing transportation links to major airports. As J. Patrick Coolican recently reported in the Las Vegas Sun, the subsidy for Ely was $3,700 per passenger last year. With higher passenger counts this year, it is now $1,197 per passenger.

Ely has qualified because the city is about 240 miles away from the closest major airport, and it doesn’t have bus or train service. Mayor Jon Hickman said the airport is “our only link to the outside world.”

There’s a debate to be had about whether the federal government should be subsidizing air service in rural areas, but the issue has put Ely in a quandary politically.

Is the airline service essential and worth tax dollars or is it government pork?

Philosophically, Ely should be against the subsidies. Like the rest of rural Nevada, Ely is strongly conservative and embraced the Tea Party and its anti-government rhetoric. In White Pine County, where signs saying “Anybody BUTT Harry Reid” have dotted the landscape, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle defeated Reid by more than 40 percentage points in last year’s election.

However, the airline service helps Ely and the region, and it certainly provides a benefit to the local economy. Ironically, Ely will need Reid’s help if it wants to keep the subsidies.

As Coolican noted, the government has helped rural America in more ways than airline service. For example, federal support helps maintain those long ribbons of road that connect Ely and other rural towns.

Renewable power plants and a major power transmission line that will bring jobs to rural Nevada are moving ahead thanks to federal loan guarantees. And local governments get money from the federal government for property it owns, much like a property tax. As well, other government programs and services help rural areas, like Great Basin National Park, which brings tourists and money to White Pine County.

If conservatives in rural Nevada want to be consistent, they can support getting rid of the airline subsidy, and then perhaps they should advocate cutting all the other money that goes into rural Nevada.

Or not.

Maybe it is worthwhile. And maybe government isn’t as bad as some people say.