[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38851-38853]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18502]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 93
Public Meetings on Proposed Rulemaking on Grand Canyon National
Park
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of meetings.
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SUMMARY: The FAA will hold public meetings on two notices of proposed
rulemaking (NPRMs) that were published in the Federal Register on July
9, 1999. Those notices are: Modifications of the Dimensions of the
Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area and Flight Free
Zones, and Commercial Air Tour Limitation in the Grand Canyon National
Park Special Flight Rules Area. The FAA will also receive comments on
the draft environmental assessment (EA) associated with these
rulemakings, which was also published in the Federal Register on July
9, 1999. The purpose of these meetings is to provide an additional
opportunity for the public to comment on the proposals.
DATES: The meetings will be held on Tuesday, August 17, 1999, beginning
at
[[Page 38852]]
9:00 a.m. and on Thursday, August 19, 1999, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at the following locations: August
17, 1999--The Cline Library Assembly Hall (Building 28) on the campus
of Northern Arizona University, Knoles Drive, Flagstaff, Arizona.
August 19, 1999--Room 241 in the Frank and Estella Beam Hall on the
campus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 4505 South Maryland
Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Persons unable to attend the meetings may send their comments on
the NPRMs in triplicate to: U.S. Department of Transportation Dockets,
Docket No. (the docket number on the NPRMs), 400 Seventh Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20590. Comments may also be submitted electronically to
the Rules Docket by using the following Internet address: 9-NPRM-
[email protected]. Comments must be marked Docket No. FAA-99-5927
(Commercial Air Tour Limitation in the Grand Canyon National Park
Special Flight Rules Area) or FAA-99-5926 (Modification of the
Dimensions of the Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area
and Flight Free Zones), as appropriate to the NPRM. Comments on both
NPRMs or on the EA should reference both docket numbers.
Comments may be examined in Room Plaza 401 weekdays, except Federal
holidays, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Written and electronic comments to the docket will receive the same
consideration as statements made at the public meeting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests to present a statement at the
public meeting on either of these NPRMs or EA, or questions regarding
information on the logistics of the meeting should be directed to Mark
Lawyer, Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Rulemaking (ARM-
107), 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591, telephone
(202) 493-4531; fax (202) 267-5075; e-mail [email protected].
Technical questions concerning the NPRMs should be directed to:
For the Airspace Modification NPRM--Joe White, Airspace and Rules
Program, Air Traffic Airspace Management Program, Federal Aviation
Administration, 800 Independence Ave., Washington, DC 20591. Telephone:
(202) 267-8783.
For the Commercial Air Tour Limitation NPRM--Alberta Brown, Air
Transportation Division, Flight Standards Service, Federal Aviation
Administration, 800 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20591.
Telephone: (202) 267-8321.
Questions on the draft environmental assessment (EA) should be
directed to Tina Hunter, ATA-300, Federal Aviation Administration, 800,
Indpependence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 267-7685.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The purpose of the meetings is for the FAA to receive comments on
two Grand Canyon National Park proposed rules and associated draft EA.
Comments from the public at these meetings should be directed
specifically to the proposed rules cited above or the draft EA.
The notices of proposed rulemaking to be discussed at the public
meetings were published in the Federal Register on July 9, 1999. The
Airspace Modification NPRM proposes to modify flight-free zones to
accommodate concerns expressed by Native Americans and also to
accommodate a new route structure. Maps showing this new route
structure are made available through a notice of availability that was
published in the Federal Register on July 9, 1999; maps also will be
available at the public meetings. The Commercial Air Tour Limitation
NPRM proposes to limit the number of commercial air tours that could be
conducted in the Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) of GCNP. It also
contains a reporting requirement for all commercial flights, not just
air tours, that are being conducted in the SFRA.
The notice of availability for the draft environmental assessment
was issued on July 2, 1999, and published in the Federal Register on
July 9, 1999.
The closing date for comments on the proposals and the draft EA is
September 7, 1999. In order to give the public an additional
opportunity to comment on the proposed rules and the draft EA, the FAA
is conducting these public meetings.
Persons interested in obtaining a copy of the Grand Canyon proposed
rules or the draft EA should contact the person listed in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
Participation at the Public Meeting
The FAA will explain the purpose and background of the NPRMs and
the EA at the beginning of the public meetings.
Persons who wish to present oral statements at the public meeting
on the Grand Canyon National Park proposals or draft EA must contact
the FAA no later than August 9, 1999. Such requests should be submitted
to Mark Lawyer as listed in the section titled FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT and should include a summary of the oral comments to be
presented and an estimate of the time needed. Requests received after
August 9, 1999 will be scheduled if time is available; however, the
name of those individuals may not appear on the written agenda. The FAA
will prepare an agenda of speakers. This agenda will be available at
each meeting. To accommodate as many speakers as possible, the amount
of time allocated to each speaker may be less than the amount of time
requested. Those persons desiring to have available audiovisual
equipment should notify the FAA when requesting to be placed on the
agenda.
Public Meeting Procedures
The following procedures are established to facilitate the public
meeting on the NPRMs and draft EA.
1. There will be no admission fee or other charge to attend or to
participate in the public meetings. The meetings will be open to all
persons who have requested in advance to present statements or who
register on the day of the meetings (between 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.),
subject to availability of space in the meeting room.
2. Representatives from the FAA and National Park Service (NPS)
will conduct the public meetings. A panel of experts will be present to
explain the NPRMs and receive information presented by participants.
The FAA chairperson will explain procedural rules specific to these
meetings in an introduction at the beginning of each meeting.
3. The public meetings are intended as a forum to seek additional
data and to obtain clarification of supporting methodologies from the
industry. Participants must limit their presentations and submissions
of data to the issues of the NPRMs and the draft EA.
4. The meetings will offer the opportunity for all interested
parties to present additional information not currently available to
the FAA and NPS.
5. The FAA will try to accommodate all speakers; therefore, it may
be necessary to limit the time available for an individual or group.
The August 17 meeting may be extended to the evening, if necessary, to
accommodate speaking requests. If practicable, the meetings may be
accelerated to enable adjournment in less than the time scheduled. Once
all speakers have been called upon and all attendees have had an
opportunity to comment, the meetings will adjourn.
6. Sign and oral interpretation can be made available at the
meetings, as well as an assistive listening device, if
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requested 10 calendar days before each meeting.
7. The meetings will be recorded by a court reporter. A transcript
of the meetings and all material accepted by the panel during the
meetings will be included in the public docket, unless protected from
disclosure. Each person interested in purchasing a copy of the
transcript should contact the court reporter directly. This information
will be available at each meeting.
8. The FAA will review and consider all information presented by
participants at the public meetings. Position papers or materials
presenting views or information related to the draft NPRMs may be
accepted at the discretion of the presiding officer and will be
subsequently placed in the public docket. The FAA requests that
presenters at the meetings provide 10 copies of all materials to be
presented for distribution to the panel members; other copies may be
provided to the audience at the discretion of the presenter.
9. Statements made by members of the panel are intended to
facilitate discussion of the issues or to clarify issues. Comments made
at these public meetings will be considered by the FAA before making a
final decision on issuance of any final rule.
10. The meetings are designed to solicit public views and more
complete information relevant to the NPRMS under consideration.
Therefore, the meeting will be conducted in an informal and
nonadversarial manner.
Issued in Washington, DC, on July 14, 1999.
Ida M. Klepper,
Acting Director, Office of Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 99-18502 Filed 7-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M