A squabble between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties may have put an end to the extension of the Gold Line light-rail to Ontario International Airport.

After strenuous objections from the San Bernardino Associated Governments and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a bill that would’ve given the builders of the Gold Line the authority to plan possible routes and begin preliminary designs was killed late Friday by the author, Assemblyman Fred Rodriguez, D-Pomona.

A furor rose from both groups, who said the bill was premature and was written without their input. An attempt at softening the bill on Wednesday failed. A meeting Friday between San Bernardino and Gold Line officials in Rodriguez’s office also failed to settle differences.

A disappointed Doug Tessitor, chairman of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority, who was booked on a flight to Sacramento Monday to testify in favor of the bill before the Assembly Transportation Committee, said political interests won out over the people’s needs.

“They (SanBAG) have not bought into the vision of providing access to Ontario Airport for the people of Los Angeles County,” Tessitor said.

“It is really frustrating to witness the short-sightedness of some of our civil servants,” he added during a phone interview Monday.

Raymond Wolfe, executive director of SanBAG, said his agency is responsible for planning transit systems in San Bernardino County, not the Gold Line Construction Authority.

SanBAG is working on a study of 30 other options for mass transit to and from the airport, which is losing passengers. He said forcing the Gold Line into Ontario Airport was not the best option.

“In my view, they (Gold Line Construction Authority) are short-sighted in neglecting to reach out and work with the agency responsible for transportation in San Bernardino County.

“Some argue that the only reason they are pushing for this is to keep their jobs. And that is not good government,” Wolfe said Monday during an interview.

The Gold Line construction agency has authority to build a 12.3-mile, $950 million second phase extension from the Azusa/Glendora border one-half mile across the county line into Montclair. Also, it’s about a year and a half away from finishing phase 2a, an 11.5-mile extension from the Sierra Madre Villa Station in east Pasadena through Arcadia, Irwindale, Monrovia and the Azusa/Glendora border.

Without approval from the Legislature for an 8-mile spur from the Montclair Transit Center to Ontario airport, the agency’s work would end in Montclair. Each Gold Line extension is turned over to MTA for operation.

Wolfe said the Gold Line into Ontario airport would be more expensive than other projects, such as extending a Metrolink commuter rail line from Rancho Cucamonga. He also said the Gold Line to Ontario airport would be used by San Gabriel Valley residents, not San Bernardino County residents.

“And San Bernardino County would be required to pay for something that doesn’t benefit the residents of San Bernardino County,” Wolfe said. “Is that the right project for our county to invest in?” he asked rhetorically.

Wolfe said his agency will continue to work with the MTA and with the Southern California Association of Governments. While saying a Gold Line-Ontario Airport project is not dead, he said it made the least sense.

Habib Balian, executive director of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, said last week that now is the time to begin preliminary studies so that environmental documents can be completed and the project can be shovel-ready. In a memo Thursday, he estimated a line to the airport would not be ready for construction for two decades.

But Wolfe said it was premature. “Then those studies end up sitting on the shelf and population centers move around and you have to go back and re-evaluate. The timing is not right at this point.”

The Gold Line Construction Authority, as well as the cities of Arcadia, Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora, Irwindale, La Verne, Monrovia, Pasadena, Pomona, San Dimas and South Pasadena, supported the bill. Cities of Adelanto, Hesperia, Rancho Cucamonga and Victorville opposed it, according to a report from the MTA, which originally opposed it but later decided to work with Rodriguez on a future bill.

Asked if the idea of a train to Ontario Airport was dead, Tessitor said he hoped it was not like the Green Line, which never made it to LAX.

“We’ve been talking about getting this light-rail system to Ontario (airport) since 2003. It is nothing new. And it has been a battle every inch of the way just to get from downtown L.A. to Azusa. This is just another battle but we will continue to fight the war,” he said.