Associated Press - October 16, 2009 9:24 PM ET
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration says a flight by Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and state lawmakers on a taxpayer-owned plane that was financed by the mining industry didn't violate federal rules.
The FAA held a conference call with Idaho Transportation Department officials Friday about the Sept. 11 trip to tour southeastern Idaho phosphate mines.
The Idaho Mining Association is paying $2,543 to Little's office and will book it as a lobbying expense.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus in Renton, Wash., said his agency has concluded the trip on Idaho's 10-passenger King Air didn't meet the definition of a commercial charter because Little's office, not the Mining Association, arranged it with the Transportation Department's Division of Aeronautics.
Private groups are forbidden from directly chartering state planes.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition questioned the use of public property for a lobbyist-financed trip, especially since no groups critical of phosphate mining were aboard.
Little cited his monthly $400 travel budget as one reason for accepting Idaho Mining Association cash for a trip where he and other officials gathered information about phosphate mine expansion and pollution concerns.
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