[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 143 (Friday, July 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40133-40134]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-19677]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration
[Docket No. 28970]


Southwest Regional Spaceport, NM

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Associate Administrator 
for Commercial Space Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Office of the 
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) 
announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) prepared for the proposed Southwest Regional Spaceport to be 
located in Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico. The DEIS will be 
available for a comment period of forty-five (45) days beginning on the 
date of publication in the Federal Register of this Notice of 
Availability.

DATES: Comments on the Southwest Regional Spaceport DEIS must be 
received during the public comment period that begins July 25, 1997 and 
continues until September 8, 1997. Comments postmarked after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable. Two public meetings will 
be held to discuss and receive comments on the Southwest Regional 
Spaceport DEIS: The first public meeting will be on August 19, 1997, at 
7:00 pm at the Convention Center, 300 Daniel Street, Truth Or 
Consequences, New Mexico, and the second one will be on August 20, 
1997, at 7:00 pm at the Hilton, 705 South Telshor Street, Las Cruces, 
New Mexico.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY OF THE SOUTHWEST REGIONAL SPACEPORT 
DEIS CONTACT: Mr. Nikos Himaras, Office of the Associate Administrator 
for Commercial Space Transportation (AST), 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
room number 5402a-H., Washington, D.C. 20590, Telephone: (202) 366-
2455; or Mr. Lou R. Gomez, Program Manager,

[[Page 40134]]

New Mexico Office for Space Commercialization, 505 South Main Street, 
Suite 134, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001. Telephone: (505) 525-5668; or 
refer to the following Internet address: http://ast.dot.gov

ADDRESSES: Copies of the DEIS will be available for review in the 
following locations: 1. Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Public Library, 
50 Copper Avenue NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 2. El Paso Community, 
Northwest Center, 6701 S. Desert Blvd., El Paso, TX 79835; 3. El Paso 
Public Library, 501 N. Oregon St., El Paso, TX 79910; 4. Los Alamos 
County Library System, 1742 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, NM 87544; 5. 
New Mexico State University Library, Serials Department, P.O. Box 3475, 
Las Cruces, NM 88003-3475; 6. Sandia National Laboratories, Department 
3140, Technical Library, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 37185; 7. Santa 
Fe Public Library, 145 Washington Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501; Thomas 
Branigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho Avenue, Las Cruces, NM 88001; 
8. Truth or Consequences Public Library, 325 Library Lane, Truth or 
Consequences, NM 87901; 9. University of New Mexico, General Library, 
Albuquerque, NM 87131.
    Written comments on the Southwest Regional Spaceport DEIS should be 
mailed to: Docket Clerk, Docket No. [28970], Federal Aviation 
Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Room 915, Washington, D.C. 
20591.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Aviation Administration's Office 
of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation 
(FAA/AST), in cooperation with the State of New Mexico's Office of 
Space Commercialization (NMOSC) and Department of Economic Development, 
have prepared a joint Federal/State Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS) for the proposed commercial Southwest Regional 
Spaceport in southern New Mexico. The operator of the launch site will 
require a license from AST in accordance with 49 U.S.C. Subtitle IX, 
ch. 701, Commercial Space Launch Activities, 49 U.S.C. 70101-70119 
(1994), formerly, the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, as amended.
    An EIS is necessary for FAA/AST to make a licensing determination 
on the proposal to operate the SRS and comply with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.
    The proposed project will require a land exchange between The 
Bureau of Land Management and New Mexico State Land Office. For this to 
occur, BLM must amend its resource management plan (RMP) to make the 
Federal lands at issue available to be exchanged. BLM regulations 
require that the public shall be provided with opportunities to 
meaningfully participate in and comment on proposed amendments to RMPs. 
BLM's determination to amend its RMP is a major Federal action subject 
to compliance with NEPA.

Project Description

    The New Mexico Office of Space Commercialization (NMOSC) proposes 
to construct and establish a commercial launch site on approximately 
250,000 acres located in Sierra and Dona Ana Counties between the 
cities of Truth Or Consequences and Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a key 
element of the State's efforts to bring regional assets together as a 
consortium to form the Southwest Space Complex. The site was selected 
by NMOSC because it is superior to other candidate sites with respect 
to population density, land use, ownership, accessibility, orbital 
insertion physics, access to airspace, and lack of obvious 
environmental constraints.
    The purpose of the Southwest Regional Spaceport project is to 
provide launch, recovery, and associated support facilities to the 
developing commercial space industry. The State anticipates that this 
project would enhance space-related economic development within the 
State of New Mexico generally and throughout the southwest region of 
the United States, as well as increase the ability of the U.S. launch 
industry to recapture a share of the international satellite launch 
market. The Southwest Regional Spaceport is intended to support the 
launch and recovery of fully reusable space vehicles.
    Development of the Southwest Regional Spaceport, and other elements 
of the Southwest Space Complex, will occur in phases over a number of 
years. The proposed action encompassed by the EIS includes the 
construction of launch and associated support facilities and the 
extension of roads and utilities necessary to parallel the phased 
development of reusable launch technology NMOSC anticipates a completed 
Southwest Regional Spaceport early in the next century.
    Major components of the proposed Southwest Regional Spaceport would 
include a central control facility for administrative functions; an 
airfield capable of handling aircraft and launch vehicles that land 
horizontally; a maintenance and integration facility for payload-
processing and space vehicles; a launch/landing complex with three 
launch/landing pads; a flight operations control center; and a 
cryogenic fuel plant to manufacture and store liquid hydrogen and 
liquid oxygen.
    Alternatives to the proposed action include no action and 
development of minimal infrastructure. With the minimal infrastructure 
alternative, construction of the Southwest Regional Spaceport 
facilities would be kept to a low level that is capable of supporting 
initial commercial space launch operations of RLVs.
    The FAA/AST intends to consult and coordinate with Federal, state 
and local agencies which have jurisdiction by law or special expertise 
with respect to any environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
project. The FAA/AST is currently making the DEIS available to Federal 
and State agencies and the public to allow review and to solicit 
comments. To ensure that the full range of issues related to this 
proposed action are addressed and all significant issues are 
identified, comments and suggestions are invited from all interested 
parties. A final EIS will be prepared following the forty-five day (45) 
comment period and conduct of public meetings.

    Issued in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 1997.
Patricia Grace Smith,
Acting Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.
[FR Doc. 97-19677 Filed 7-24-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P