CASPER — The death of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Casper two months ago continues to complicate the Casper/Natrona County International Airport’s international service and trade zone opportunities.

Longtime agent John “Dale” Leatham, who provided customs services for 48 years in Wyoming, died in May. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service has not yet filled his position.

In the meantime, people and businesses who had normally used Casper as a destination for international travel or trade has had spotty service.

Since his death, customs clearances have been slowed at the state’s only international airport and a federal foreign trade zone application remains on hold.

The federal agency has been sending customs agents from Denver to fill in, but those fill-in agents have been sporadic, according to Airport Director Glenn Januska.

Januska said there has been a significant decrease in the number of aircraft cleared at the airport, but it’s hard to measure the number of planes that might have chosen to clear in Casper if service was fully operational. Under Leatham, the airport would clear nearly 500 airplanes a year.

“The customs office in Denver has been trying to send customs officers up to Casper when they can, understanding that they still have roles and functions in Denver,” Januska said. “So, we’ve had some coverage for the operation here, but certainly not to the extent that we had when Dale was here.”

A Financial Hit

From a revenue standpoint, the impact of reduced international landings translates to a loss of some money for private companies who sell aviation fuel at the airport.

Typically, an international flight arrives with fuel gauges depleted. The airport, which has a 30-cent fee associated with each gallon of aviation fuel sold, also is losing revenue from any flight that bypasses Casper for another entry point.

Januska said it’s impossible to know how many international planes have bypassed the airport, and not all flights choose to get fuel. The fuel fee also is not broken down between international or national flights, so providing a dollar amount in terms of impact is difficult.

Foreign Trade Zone

At Advance Casper, President and CEO Justin Farley said the loss of Leatham has slowed, but not stopped, plans for a foreign trade zone opportunity at the airport.

“We are going to lease a space out there and designate it a foreign trade zone for an international company that is looking to move here,” he said. “We had met with Dale, with this company, and we have been on pause since then.”

Farley said his understanding is that U.S. Customs is reviewing the trade zone application and that the process is still active, but questions remain as to who will fill Leatham’s position permanently and when.

“We’d like to know who is going to be there and gauge what their interest in their involvement in our (foreign trade zone area),” he said. “Dale was super unique and a fan of this company. (His loss) was tragic for his family and our community.”

Farley said the expectation is that a customs officer will still tour the company by the end of September or October to ensure that the foreign trade zone area would meet the requirements for additional security.

Advance Casper is moving forward based on its understanding that there will be a new permanent customs agent at some point.

Under the arrangement, Advance Casper would take care of the paperwork and reporting necessary for the foreign trade zone to operate and also provide some of the transportation required.

“Our hope is we prove that model out where Casper would be a great logistics hub,” Farley said.

He said in addition to Advance Casper’s work on behalf of the international company, another Casper company has its own separate application pending for a foreign trade zone.

“We are moving forward from the standpoint that these are active applications, and we absolutely need a customs agent,” he said. “In addition to all the people that (Leatham) cleared and used our airport for that purpose, we felt that as a community that it was super important to keep (the foreign trade zone) so they wouldn’t drag their feet and say everything will have to go through Billings (Montana) or Colorado, which we view as a real risk.”

A New Agent

Januska said U.S. Customs is aware of the importance of putting an officer in place.

His last email from the agency more than a month ago informed him that the task of selecting an agent belongs to the agency’s human resources. There is no firm timeline.

The customs official told Januska that the selection would likely happen within the month.

Once a candidate was selected, Januska estimated it would take another month before the officer moved to the region, which would put the new officer in position in mid-to-late September.

“We knew going into this that it was not going to be a quick process,” Januska said.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.