[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 13 (Monday, January 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S978-S979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FRIST:
  S. 306. A bill to regulate commercial air tours overflying the Great 
Smokey Mountains National Park, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


             the great smokey national park overflights act

 Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two pieces 
of aviation legislation that I believe will improve the quality of life 
for Tennesseans. First, I would like to introduce ``The Great Smoky 
Mountains National Park Overflights Act.''
  Last year, I was an original sponsor of the ``National Parks 
Overflights Act'' along with my colleague and Chairman of the Commerce 
Committee, Senator John McCain. I was proud to have my name associated 
with this legislation. But, in spite of overwhelming bipartisan support 
for this legislation in the Senate, an unrelated dispute in the 
conference committee with the House of Representatives led to its 
demise in the 105th Congress.
  Last year's legislation would have affected many National Parks from 
coast to coast and even Hawaii. The legislation I am introducing today 
will only affect the Smokies. I am advancing a more limited approach 
because I believe the preservation of the Smokies and the safety of 
park visitors are far too important to include with other more 
contentious legislative efforts.
  As the air tour industry in many parks continues to grow, safety 
concerns also increase. By addressing safety now, before tragic 
accidents occur, we can assure the public that we have taken every 
precaution to protect visitors in our parks. Under this legislation, 
the Federal Aviation Administrator will work in tandem with the 
Secretary of the Interior to ensure public health and safety goals are 
met while concurrently maintaining the natural beauty and serenity of 
our Smoky Mountains National Park. This bill makes park overflight 
passenger safety a paramount concern for the Federal Aviation 
Administrator, who, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, 
will set minimum altitudes for overflights and will prohibit

[[Page S979]]

flights below those minimum altitudes where necessary to meet safety 
goals.
  This legislation also takes a crucial first step toward restoring and 
preserving a vital resource within the Smokies--natural quiet. The 
natural ambient sound condition found in a park, or natural quiet, as 
it is commonly called, is precisely what many Americans seek to 
experience when they visit some of our most treasured national parks. 
Natural quiet is as crucial an element of the natural beauty and 
splendor of certain parks as those resources that we visually observe 
and appreciate.
  I believe that this critical environmental legislation strikes a 
careful balance between the reasonable concerns of those in the air 
tour industry and the environmental necessity of preserving the natural 
quiet of the Smokies. I am a pilot and I know well the beauty and 
thrill of flying low. The Smokies beg for more restraint. They must be 
enjoyed from a responsible altitude where the noise of our aircraft 
does not disturb the life and majesty below our wings.
  The second piece of legislation that I would like to introduce today 
is the Air Service Improvement Act of 1999. As many of my colleagues 
know, I have spent considerable time working with airport managers, 
airlines and many others attempting to solve the problems of 
underserved small communities. It became clear to me early on that 
there is no silver bullet solution. Rather, a learning process has 
taken place where we have discovered what has worked best for the 
individual communities in question. Moreover, the problems of small 
communities are related to the competition issues at larger, well-
served airports. Tennessee is experiencing both problems.
  In Memphis, there is certainly adequate service, but limited 
competition results in high fares. In the Eastern part of our State, 
there are several communities that have little competition and limited 
service. We can do better.
  It is critical that we remember that deregulation has been remarkably 
successful in spite of the ``pockets of pain'' in some communities. 
Therefore any changes must be made with an emphasis on the free market 
and not be reregulatory in nature. Deregulation has served most 
Americans well and should not be dismantled.
  With that prologue, I would like to go through some of the provisions 
of the Small Communities Air Services Act. For most small and medium 
sized communities that are underserved, access is the key. These 
airports must have access to major hubs that provide network benefits. 
When travelers in the Tri-Cities have jet service to Chicago they can 
conveniently connect to nearly any city in the world. And indeed, much 
of the improvements the underserved markets of Chattanooga and the Tri-
Cities have seen over the past two years has been from the Department 
of Transportation adding slots that created additional access to 
Chicago.
  With access to the Nation's four slot-controlled airports as a 
primary goal, I am proposing that the Secretary of Transportation be 
required to approve all applications from underserved small and medium-
sized communities that partner with an air carrier that is willing to 
serve their market. The Secretary will retain the right to deny 
applications only if the Federal Aviation Administration certifies that 
the increase in operations is unsafe or if increase in operations 
violates the National Environmental Policy Act. In short, if an 
additional flight from an underserved area is safe and does not have 
adverse environmental effects the slot shall be awarded.
  Additionally, I am introducing provisions that I worked closely with 
Chairman McCain on last year. These include a grant program for small 
communities, an in-depth study on market-based incentives using 
regional jets, and numerous safety programs affecting small communities 
including an FAA tower program. It is my belief that collectively, this 
initiative will diminish many of the challenges that underserved 
communities now face.
  Again, it is my strong belief that both the Overflights legislation 
and the Air Service Act will improve significantly the quality of life 
for Tennesseans. I thank my colleagues for their consideration of these 
proposals, but I would especially like to thank the Majority Leader 
Trent Lott and Chairman John McCain for their considerable 
assistance.
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