Denver-based Qwest spent more than $1.8 million to lobby the federal government in the first half of 2007, according to a disclosure form. The telecommunications company lobbied on issues related to Internet regulation and taxation, subsidies for rural high-speed Internet access, and legislation regulating access to phone records, according to the form posted online Aug. 14 by the Senate’s public records office.
Additional business news briefs:
Beach connection cemented
Frontier Airlines on Friday started daily flights between Denver and Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. The flights are on Frontier’s Airbus A319 jets. The Frontier flights are the only nonstop flights between Palm Beach and Denver.
Frontier gains jobs, United trims
Denver-based Frontier Airlines grew to 5,206 full-time-equivalent employees in September, up 15.2 percent from the 4,518 it had a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That was the highest growth among low-cost carriers. Meanwhile, United Airlines’ full-time equivalent employee count dropped 1.5 percent to about 52,100 employees in September, down from about 52,900 a year earlier.
Tri-State appeals coal-plant denial
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association on Friday filed lawsuits with the Kansas Court of Appeals and a District Court in Finney County seeking to overturn the denial of an air-quality permit the Westminster-based company had sought for a coal-fired plant, a Tri-State spokesman said. In October, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied the company’s plans to build a 700-megawatt plant in Holcomb, Kan., over concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions.
Small companies snag NASA business
A number of Colorado small businesses won NASA contracts for research and technology. The Small Business Innovation Research contract awards announced Friday are for Phase 1, a feasibility study with up to $100,000 in funding, and went to Extreme Diagnostics Inc.; Eltron Research & Development Inc. and Tech-X Corp. in Boulder; RT Logic, Black Forest Engineering LLC and Mobile Energy Products Inc. in Colorado Springs; Perceptek and Advanced Solutions Inc. in Littleton; Reaction Systems LLC in Golden; Composite Technology Development Inc. in Lafayette; Lexycom Technologies Inc. in Longmont; TDA Research Inc. in Wheat Ridge; Pioneer Astronautics in Lakewood; Starsys Inc. in Louisville; and Firestar Engineering LLC in Broomfield. A NASA Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 contract went to Barber-Nichols Inc. in Arvada.
