Inspector General Will Review MWAA Policies, Procedures

Correction: The Inspector General announced on Nov. 19, 2009, an audit that will evaluate the effectiveness of FTA’s oversight of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project and assess potential safety concerns. An earlier version of this article had incorrect information about the objective's of this audit.

U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovell announced Tuesday  that his office will determine if Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority policies and procedures comply with the law and whether the board of directors has been transparent with and accountable for its actions with the controversial Dulles Corridor Metrorail project.

U.S. Representatives Frank Wolf (R-Virginia 10th) and Tom Latham (R-Iowa 4th) asked for the investigation earlier this year. The investigation announcement comes at a time when frustration with MWAA board members is at an all-time high.

On April 6, the MWAA board found itself in more hot water when it voted 9-4 to build a more expensive underground Metrorail station at . MWAA's decision would add $330 million to a project that totals more than $6 billion.

The second phase of the Metrorail project that includes new stations at the airport and into eastern Loudoun County is now estimated to cost $3.5 billion, which is $1 billion over earlier estimates.

Wolf has said that the MWAA board is "dysfunctional," and that he was disturbed by a Washington Post editorial that criticizes MWAA's search process for a new CEO and the attendance record of at least one member. MWAA has been without a CEO since early 2010.

The inspector general notes that another audit launched in November 2009 to evaluate the effectiveness of FTA’s oversight of the project and to assess potential safety concerns, but "the recent decisions by the MWAA board regarding the project have generated significant attention" warrant this new investigation. 

Not only have lawmakers asked for an investigation of MWAA's policies and procedures, but . Even Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli chimed in recently when he called the project an "economic boondoggle" and asked Loudoun County voters to elect an anti-rail majority this November.

MWAA manages Dulles International and Reagan National airports and the Metrorail project. MWAA also owns the Dulles Toll Road and will use tolls to pay for a large portion of the project. 

Elected leaders in Fairfax and Loudoun counties are upset that the tolls for the road will be too high if MWAA does not cut project costs. The funding partners have been meeting occasionally behind closed doors since June 1, when U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood  intervened to get the three sides to work together on cost-cutting measures.

LaHood told the group that he wanted a new cost outline for Phase 2 by the end of this month.

The MWAA investigation starts June 27.