By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, looking for more lobbying muscle to help secure federal approval for the troubled Dulles rail project, is negotiating with former U.S. transportation secretary Norman Y. Mineta to represent the agency.

Mineta, 75, is vice chairman of Hill & Knowlton, the communications and lobbying firm, where he advises clients on transportation and national security issues. He joined the company after leaving the Bush administration in July 2006.

Mineta has a long history with the airports authority. He was a Democratic member of the U.S. House from 1975 to 1995, and during that time, he served on the authority's board of directors and on a congressional review board that oversaw the agency.

Authority spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said Mineta would be used "on an as-needed basis to provide advice and counsel."

"We think we could benefit from his quite extensive experience," she said.

Mineta is traveling, a Hill & Knowlton spokeswoman said. Two phone messages left with his office in recent days were not returned.

The airports authority employs an in-house governmental affairs manager. Its interest in Mineta reflects a deepening anxiety about the proposed 23-mile Metro extension from Falls Church to Dulles International Airport, which has been on the drafting boards for more than 40 years. The airports authority would oversee construction.

The Federal Transit Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation, is assessing the project's cost-effectiveness to determine whether it qualifies for a $900 million federal grant. The transit agency has expressed concern about the estimated price of the project's 11.6-mile first phase, from East Falls Church through Tysons Corner to Reston, which has grown from $1.52 billion in December 2004 to $2.8 billion, by some estimates.

The federal agency warned state and local officials last week that they have to shave about $275 million from the project's budget or lose federal funding.

Mineta's presence would give the airports authority a stronger voice at the Federal Transit Administration at a critical moment.

"He can advise us on a lot of issues across the board," Hamilton said. "And rail is obviously one of them."

Mineta would be the newest addition to a muscular lineup of Washington and Richmond insiders enlisted by stakeholders in the Dulles project. Former transportation secretary William T. Coleman Jr. , a senior partner at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, represents the WestGroup, a development company that has lobbied aggressively to place the Tysons segment of the rail line underground. The design currently calls for an aboveground track.

Kirk K. Van Tine -- a partner in the Baker Botts law firm who worked in the Transportation Department from 2001 to 2004, first as general counsel and then as deputy secretary -- has lobbied Virginia officials on behalf of Dragados, a Madrid construction company that offered a plan to build a rail tunnel through Tysons.

Bechtel, the engineering and construction management firm that heads up the consortium that would build the Dulles extension, is represented by former Virginia transportation secretary John G. Milliken of Arlington County.

After leaving Congress, Mineta was a vice president of Lockheed Martin, the aerospace manufacturer. He served as commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton and stayed on to head the Transportation Department for the Bush White House.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mineta played a major role in creation of the Transportation Security Administration.