[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