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The issue comes from a passage in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, filed by Rep. John Mica of Florida, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2017. Section 813 of the act — Use of Mineral Revenue at Certain Airports — authorizes the Federal Aviation Administration administrator to collect a certain amount of revenue derived from minerals collected on airport property, which it then provides to other airports and other facilities on airport property.

Mayor Lori Blong — who was one of the council members that originally approved Permian Deep Rock Oil Co.'s drilling of wells near Airpark — said she discovered the FAA's royalties rule about a year ago and informed City Council as well as Pfluger on the matter.

Midland officials said the city acquired ownership over the minerals when Midland originally bought the land for Airpark in 1942. This cites Texas legislation that divides land ownership between surface and mineral estates, as this passage on the Railroad Commission of Texas’ website states broadly: 

“We started receiving payments on some of those revenues, and we couldn’t use them for any other projects that our community needs,” Blong said. “It took a long time for us to find codified where and why do we have to do this. The FAA issued a determination letter that we need to do it, but that letter was issued prior to my time as mayor, and I don’t think anybody on council realized that that was what was taking place. The city of Midland does not need the federal government to tell us how we need to spend those dollars.”

Blong wants the city be able to spend these mineral revenues as it sees fit, adding that the additional revenues would benefit the city’s budget, such as providing additional funds to repairing the city’s aging infrastructure and other capital investment projects, including to Airpark itself. She also said she hopes to transfer the revenue into the city’s stabilization fund.

“This is an additional opportunity to even put more dollars into that stabilization fund so that, when we have an unexpected event, we’re able to cover that without any questions,” Blong said. “I would prefer to find alternative revenue streams like this, to be able to cover some of those capital improvements and to be able to keep our tax rate as low as possible. We don’t need several hundred million dollars for our airport system. We need (it) for our roads, water and infrastructure, and we need to be able to decide how to prioritize those dollars. But Midland City Council is not going to leave (Midland Airpark) out in the cold if we receive this. We’re going to be able to have a prioritized conversation, according to our strategic plan, about what’s best for Midlanders.”

Pfluger said he is now working with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Sen. Ted Cruz on a fix, either by striking Section 813 from the 2012 act or by working with the FAA to figure out the nuances of the section and go from there.

“Because it is federal legislation, it’s not just Midland that is affected by this,” Pfluger said. “So, we want to understand, from (the FAA’s) perspective, what is the best way that we can get a fair deal and that we can reverse the negativity of that statute and then make sure we deliver on the revenues.”

Added Blong: “Our city council and city leadership, along with federal leadership, are committed to staying at the table to find the best solution. If that is a legislative solution, then we’re committed to supporting it and helping with that. If that is working with the law as it exists and finding some other solution, we’ll do that. But we need to have this collaborative approach between local and federal leadership to come up with a solution.”

Blong also said that she has been in conversation with other Texas cities that could stand to gain from this, specifically citing Beaumont as an example.

Both Blong and Pfluger encourage people to call their offices for more details, with Pfluger saying that his lines remain open amid the U.S. government shutdown.