_{Thumbnail photo: An aerial view of the existing fuel farm at the Del Norte County Airport and the proposed location for a new fuel farm. | Photo courtesy of the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority}

Before launching into what replacing the fuel farm at the Del Norte County Airport would look like, Mark Weaver, Cal Ore Life Flight manager, discussed why it’s important.

“One thing that we are graced with is having a 5,000-foot runway in a very small community, which is pretty uncommon, especially having an ILS, an instrument landing system,” Weaver told Border Coast Regional Airport Authority commissioners on Thursday. “Along with that comes military — the Coast Guard comes in weekly for training and buys fuel with us. We have medical flights, of course. We have our airline and then, of course, we have some of the other things being in a remote community, which is FedEx and AmeriFlight and UPS and all that.”

In September, the joint powers authority that oversees the airport included the fuel farm project in the BCRAA’s Airport Capital Improvement Program for 2027-2032. Airport Authority Director Sean Rosenthal said that funding from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Infrastructure Grant program would help pay for building a new fuel farm, but that the BCRAA may be responsible for about half the cost.

On Thursday, Rosenthal reiterated that BCRAA may be responsible for 50% of the project’s cost. But instead of the initial plan of doing the design and construction of the fuel farm replacement in one year, the project’s design phase will be finished in 2027 with construction coming in 2028, the airport director said.

“The project is going to be about $1.2 million,” Rosenthal said. “There’s about $600,000 in the AIG (fund) plus whatever was saved from the fence, which is $100,000 or $200,000.”

The fence Rosenthal referred to was a project to replace about 1,800 feet of chainlink fence to keep elk from getting onto the tarmac. The Airport Authority used about $900,000 in FAA grant dollars to pay for the project.

According to Weaver, Del Norte County owns the fuel farm, BCRAA manages the asset, including the design and construction of its replacement, while Cal-Ore Life Flight operates the fuel farm. The latter includes running daily visual inspections to ensure the aircraft flying into Crescent City receive quality fuel, he said.

Weaver estimated that about 200,000 gallons of fuel is moved through the tanks each year with Cal-Ore Life Flight paying a fee for every gallon sold. At about 12 cents per gallon, last year the Del Norte County Airport received $24,606.96 in revenue from fuel sales. 

But the fuel farm is at the end of its life, Weaver told commissioners. The risers — pipes that connect the tanks to equipment above ground — are so badly corroded that the tanks would not hold enough pressure to pass or fail a test, he said. The base the tanks sit on is also failing.

A failing foundation puts stress on the tanks and increases the risk of damage or leaks, according to Weaver’s presentation.

“We are slowly creeping to a situation where it’s going to be very difficult to maintain (them),” he said, adding that Cal-Ore  conducts daily inspections to ensure the fuel is clean and ready for any aircraft to use. “Until then, we continue to be vigilant in ensuring we’re doing the right thing to keep the tanks in service.”

According to Weaver, it’s not economically viable to repair the tanks since they have aged. The filters have also aged, he said. The new proposed site would be west of the existing tanks. 

Once the new tanks are installed, the old tanks would be decommissioned, Weaver said.

Funding the fuel farm will be among the items that will be discussed at a workshop next month. According to Rosenthal, he and Patty Stanley, BCRAA fiscal and programs manager, will also give a presentation on the history of the airport’s finances starting from 2015 to discuss “why we operate at a loss.”

Del Norte County Auditor Clinton Schaad will be part of the workshop, Rosenthal said.

The airport authority began receiving the federal Essential Air Service subsidy that allows Advanced Air to provide commercial service to Crescent City in 2015, Rosenthal said.

A date for the workshop is still to be determined.