VARNEY — Senator Jay Rockefeller called Tuesday's groundbreaking in Varney of the Mingo County Air Transportation Park a terrific step toward promising new economic development opportunities in the region.

The new airport facility — which is the result of a partnership among the Mingo County Airport Authority, Alpha Natural Resources, the Federal Aviation Administration, the West Virginia Department of Transportation and the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority — will serve private, corporate and industrial aircraft customers in the region. Work is presently underway to develop property adjacent to the new airport site.

Sen. Rockefeller was instrumental in securing FAA funds to make the new airport in Varney a possiblity. Mingo County officials praised Rockefeller for helping secure $3.2 million through the FAA for the first phase of construction to make the new, safer and more efficient airport a reality.

“Healthy communities and promising economic progress hinge on new, creative opportunities — and the Mingo County Air Transportation Park is certainly an exciting example of just that,” Rockefeller said. “Airports are proven, sound investments that go a long way toward diversifying our local economies. They create new jobs, attract business opportunities and spur serious investments — all of which are especially important in our rural communities. I’m proud to have helped make this development possible, and I look forward to the new growth that is sure to come in southern West Virginia.”

Sen. Truman Chaffin was very optimistic about the project.

"With the opening of the new Mingo County Air Transportation Park, another big step in transforming Mingo County, number one in West Virginia with post-mine land use, will occur," he said. During Phase I construction of the park, the state West Virginia Aeronautics Commission and the FAA allotted $3.6 million. Both of these agencies are now in pursuit of an additional $3.9 million for Phase II and capital improvements, according to Chaffin. Upon the project’s completion, the park will have a 5,000-foot runway that will be able to serve private, corporate and industrial aircraft customers.

The ceremony was held on the new airport site, located at Oldfield Branch, near Varney, on WV 52/15, also known as Mystery Mountain Road.