BOISE - In December 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration started its effort to relocate Boise Airport's TRACON or Terminal Radar Approach Control. The move would mean airplanes in the treasure valley would be tracked by controllers and computers in Salt Lake City.

Mark Griffin is head of the Air Traffic Controllers Union in Boise. He's been fighting the move for four years. He estimates this move will cost ten local jobs, cause more pollution, decrease efficiency and increase cost to the federal government. He, the Idaho congressional delegation and the mayor of Boise have all been in contact with the FAA and asked them to reconsider.

"Their attitude: we're going to do what we want to do and we don't really care what you think," Griffin said. "They won't provide rational and they won't talk about the cost."

An internal performance review done by the FAA shows the cost breakdown of every flight operation (a take-off, landing, fly-over, or other runway operation). That cost at Boise in 2007 was $12.45. At Salt Lake, in addition to paying their controllers more money on average per year, cost per flight jumps to $35.74. Griffin says the size and combined tower-radar system at BOI provide the most optimal operation.

2News contacted a regional FAA spokesman who told us he wouldn't comment on the cost and referred us to a previous statement saying there will be no negative impacts caused by the relocation.

As for safety concerns a local manager with the FAA told us he believes the move can be done safely.

"From the stand point of safety, yes, I do believe it is feasible and safe to provide air traffic service from hundreds of miles away," said Gordon Stewart, the Boise Tower Manager.

But even if the move were safe, the coalition against the plan still questions cost and efficacy.

"We don't see how the federal government is going to save a lot of money," said Lindsay Northern, a press secretary for Senator Crapo.

Crapo leads the delegation against the planned FAA relocation. He called secretary of transportation Ray LaHood on Wednesday asking for him to delay the move until at least a financial audit by the inspector general is completed later this month. LaHood said he would look into the matter but did not commit firmly to any course of action.

"It costs more to operate in Salt Lake City," Nothern said. "So why send people down there when they can do the job here? It's cheaper, it's more efficient, and we know that it'll be a safer operation."

The mayor of Boise has been requesting an environmental impact study in addition to the financial audit underway. They argue the National Environmental Policy Act legally requires an impact study on emissions before any move is made. The FAA formally responded to that assertion claiming NEPA does not apply here.

"None of that seems to have any effect with the FAA," said Ross Borden, director of Intergovernmental Affairs with the mayor's office. "They are proceeding full steam ahead without doing the things they need to do that would make the tax payers and the elected officials comfortable knowing this is indeed the right thing to do."

Borden says a final recourse if the FAA continues to dismiss their request will be filling suit against the federal agency.

Running multiple airports out of the same TRACON office has been done before. In southern California for example, airports in LA, Burbank and Palm Springs all share the same airspace and therefor the same TRACON center. The proposal at BOI would be the first time in the country a co-location system was set-up in non-contiguous airspace over such a great distance.