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Dulles and BWI, that it was not in the interests of the Institution to delay its decision-making further for such purposes, that the condition and suitability of the facilities for museum purposes were questionable to the degree that claimed savings of $100 million were unrealistic and that placing a major concentration of the National Air and Space Museum's collection at such distance would require the operation of an essentially autonomous museum complex with its own, somewhat duplicative staff.

In addition, it was noted that Governor Schaefer, in his letter of January 24, 1990, had offered to provide an additional $10 million for the project as an incentive to site the Extension at BWI. In discussion, it was pointed out that, while the Governor's action made the Maryland offer more attractive, the additional resources did not give BWI a decided advantage in terms of the projected completion of the project (total costs of which could be $330 million) when compared with Virginia's unspecified offer to match funds appropriated by the Federal government.

The Regents expressed several concerns about the Dulles proposal as well. For instance, it would be incumbent on the Secretary to get a commitment from Governor Wilder on the ratio of state funds matched to Federal appropriations. It will also be necessary to develop a firmer sense of commitment from Virginia officials on the building of mass transit service to Dulles from downtown Washington. And it would be desirable to elicit from Virginia an offer of approximately $10 million to match Governor Schaefer's offer of January 24.

Other considerations were also addressed, such as the impact on the environment at BWI and Dulles and the amount of enthusiasm locally for siting the Extension at either airport. It was noted that findings on the environmental impact study were checked through local and state government