Last night, the group “Citizens for Bourbon County” held a town hall meeting objecting to the project. The event description on Facebook expresses frustration with a lack of information and transparency.
Though Bluegrass Station is in north-east Fayette County, the proposed development stretches into Bourbon County, where its construction would result in the acquisition of over two-thousand acres through eminent domain. Senator Steve West, who lives in and represents Bourbon County, supports the development of the airport because of its potential economic impact, which includes estimates of over three-thousand new jobs, twelve-million dollars in tax revenue, and over a billion dollars in private investment.
Residents at the meeting objected to the destruction of farmland and the prioritization of corporate interests over local farmers. Steve Collins, a retired Army major general who was director of Bluegrass Station in the mid 2010s, when the project was first proposed, told The Herald Leader the airport was at the request of a tenant needing a runway and two hangars in order to outfit C-130 cargo planes for special operations. The C-130 Hercules is a military aircraft designed and built by Lockheed-Martin.