"We want to get through this wildfire season and understand how much of the fleet will be available and for how long," said Tony Kern, Forest Service assistant director of aviation management.
The news came one day after the Forest Service rejected Missoula-based Neptune Aviation Inc.'s request to have seven contracts to operate tankers for this wildfire season reinstated.
Neptune officials had sent documentation of their planes' airworthiness for firefighting to DynCorp Technical Services LLC of Texas, which the Forest Service hired to evaluate the tankers.
Neptune officials, who are still smarting over the Forest Service decision, said they looked forward to being a part of a modernized firefighting air tanker program.
"Well that's great," Neptune president Kristen Schloemer replied when told about the modernization plan. "We plan to be part of it."
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said that during a late July meeting in Washington, D.C., Forest Service officials told him that they are considering purchasing planes that the Navy plans to decommission before the end of the year.
Rehberg said Forest Service officials told him that they may maintain ownership of the decommissioned planes and contract out with companies like Neptune to operate them. The Republican lawmaker is still pondering the notion.
"I'd have to take a look at it," Rehberg said. "Traditionally I have been opposed to the government doing something that private companies can do, but I am not throwing cold water on any ideas at this point."
Schloemer said Neptune would be interested in operating planes that are owned by the Forest Service.
"Absolutely," Schloemer said. "That's something we are very excited about."
Schloemer's excitement doesn't mean that Neptune or Montana lawmakers plan to sit back until the plan is released. They are pushing to get Forest Service officials to reconsider their decision to deny the request to reinstate. The main reason for denial of the reinstatement was lack of information about the fatigue life of the P2-V planes that Neptune had been contracted to operate.
Rehberg said Mark Rey, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary for natural resources and environment, told him Tuesday that the department would pay the cost of obtaining the information from the P2-Vs' manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp.
"The number he threw out was $100,000," Rehberg said.
Rehberg said the decision to have the Forest Service pay to obtain the information is an example of how Rey has gone out of his way to get the contracts reinstated.
"Mark Rey has bent over backward and tried to get this done in a timely fashion," Rehberg said. "He really has done yeoman's work."
Jim Foley, aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the lawmaker does not share Rehberg's positive feelings about the Forest Service's efforts. Baucus is particularly unhappy that the Forest Service has reinstated contracts for Chico, Calif.-based Aero Union Corp.
The Aero Union contracts that were reinstated were to operate P-3 Orions, which are newer than the P2-Vs and still used by the Navy. Foley noted that DynCorp determined that they could not establish an operational service life for firefighting for either the P-3 Orions or the P2-Vs.
"It's apparent to Max that Neptune is being treated differently," Foley said. "They are holding them to a higher standard."
Kern responded that the P-3s - unlike the P2-Vs - at least had an operational life for civilian uses.
"The P-3 has an operational service life," Kern said. "It needs to be refined for the firefighting environment."
Kern noted that although "it will be next to impossible for any operator to establish a 100 percent operational service life for the firefighting environment," the P-3s come close enough that the agency feels comfortable reinstating the contracts. He noted that the agency is requiring them to inspect the planes more often.
Foley and Neptune officials say a similar arrangement could be worked out for the P2-Vs and that the failure to do so reflects the Forest Service's bias against the company.
"We have continually had chairs pulled out in front of us," Neptune director of operations Greg Jones said.
Foley and Jones were unable to provide any reason why the Forest Service would be intentionally mistreating Neptune.
"They would have to answer that," Foley said.
Kern dismissed any notion that Neptune is being treated differently than Aero Union.
"The vendors are being treated the same," Kern said. "We're not raising the bar. We're not changing requirements."
Kern noted that the agency is having success fighting wildfires with single-engine planes, helicopters and a handful of tankers.
"We have safe alternatives to protect the land and people," Kern said. "As long as we have safe alternatives, we're going to be conservative."
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