ATLANTA - A U.S. Coast Guard refueling base and one of the few emergency landing spots for commercial airliners in the North Pacific could be put in jeopardy in March when a Georgia-based corporation abandons the Midway Islands. <br>
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Midway Phoenix Corporation says it will close its ecotourism resort on the three-island atoll in early March, citing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services restrictions that make it too difficult to be profitable. <br>
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Cartersville-based Midway Phoenix has inhabited Sand Island - the largest of the chain 1,200 miles northwest of Honolulu - under a federal government contract since 1996. It built a resort around the former Navy base and operates the airfield, harbor and power plant. <br>
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When the company's 150 employees leave the island, those operations will cease. It's a situation that concerns the Coast Guard, which depends on the island as a refueling stop during law enforcement and rescue operations. <br>
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Also, some commercial air routes between the United States and Asia would likely have to be changed. A Federal Aviation Administration rule requires that two-engine jets stay within one-thousand miles of an emergency landing spot in case they lose an engine.
