[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1774-1775]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-495]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Approval of Noise Compatibility Program for Guam International 
Airport, Guam

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its 
findings on the noise compatibility program submitted by A.B. Won Pat 
Guam International Airport Authority under the provisions of Title I of 
the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act, as amended (Public Law 96-
193) (hereinafter referred to as ``the Act''), and 14 CFR part 150. 
These findings are made in recognition of the description of Federal 
and non-Federal responsibilities in Senate Report No. 96-52 (1980). On 
May 19, 2003, the FAA determined that the noise exposure maps submitted 
by A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority under part 150 
were in compliance with applicable requirements. On November 14, 2003, 
the FAA approved the Noise Compatibility Program for Guam International 
Airport.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The effective date of the FAA's approval of the Noise 
Compatibility Program for Guam International Airport is November 14, 
2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gordon Wong, Western-Pacific Region, 
Honolulu Airports District Office, Federal Aviation Administration, Box 
50244, Honolulu, Hawaii 96850-0001, Telephone: (808) 541-1232, Street 
Address: 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. Documents 
reflecting this FAA action may be reviewed at this same location.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces that the FAA has given 
its overall approval to the noise compatibility program for Guam 
International Airport, effective November 14, 2003. Under section 
104(a) of the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979, as 
amended (herein after referred to as the ``Act'') [recodified as 49 USC 
47504], an airport operator who has previously submitted a Noise 
Exposure Map may submit to the FAA a Noise Compatibility Program which 
sets forth the measures taken or proposed by the airport operator for 
the reduction of existing non-compatible land uses and prevention of 
additional non-compatible land uses within the area covered by the 
Noise Exposure Maps. The Act requires such programs to be developed in 
consultation with interested and affected parties including local 
communities, government agencies, airport users, and FAA personnel.
    Each airport noise compatibility program developed in accordance 
with Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) part 150 is a local program, 
not a Federal program. The FAA does not substitute its judgment for 
that of the airport proprietor with respect to which measures should be 
recommended for action. The FAA's approval or disapproval of FAR part 
150 program recommendations is measured according to the standards 
expressed in part 150 and the Act and is limited to the following 
determinations:
    a. The Noise Compatibility Program was developed in accordance with 
the provisions and procedures of FAR part 150;
    b. Program measures are reasonably consistent with achieving the 
goals of reducing existing non-compatible land uses around the airport 
and preventing the introduction of additional non-compatible land uses;
    c. Program measures would not create an undue burden on interstate 
or foreign commerce, unjustly discriminate against types or classes of 
aeronautical uses, violate the terms of airport grant agreements, or 
intrude into areas preempted by the Federal Government; and
    d. Program measures relating to the use of flight procedures can be 
implemented within the period covered by the program without derogating 
safety, adversely affecting the efficient use and management of the 
navigable airspace and air traffic control systems, or adversely 
affecting other powers and responsibilities of the Administrator 
prescribed by law.
    Specific limitations with respect to FAA's approval of an airport 
noise compatibility program are delineated in FAR part 150, section 
150.5. Approval is not a determination concerning the acceptability of 
land uses under Federal, State, or local law. Approval does not by 
itself constitute an FAA implementing action. A request for Federal 
action or approval to implement specific noise compatibility measures 
may be required, and an FAA decision on the request may require an 
environmental assessment of the proposed action. Approval does not 
constitute a commitment by the FAA to financially assist in the 
implementation of the program nor a determination that all measures 
covered by the program are eligible for grant-in-aid funding from the 
FAA under the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, as amended. 
Where Federal funding is sought, requests for project grants must be 
submitted to the FAA Airports District Office in Honolulu, Hawaii.
    A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority submitted to the 
FAA on March 17, 2003, the noise exposure maps, descriptions, and other 
documentation produced during the noise compatibility planning study 
conducted from May 19, 2000, through March 17, 2003. The Guam 
International Airport noise exposure maps were

[[Page 1775]]

determined by FAA to be in compliance with applicable requirements on 
May 19, 2003. Notice of this determination was published in the Federal 
Register on June 4, 2003.
    The Guam International Airport study contains a proposed noise 
compatibility program comprised of actions designed for phased 
implementation by airport management and adjacent jurisdictions from 
(March 17, 2003, to beyond the year 2008). It was requested that the 
FAA evaluate and approve this material as a Noise Compatibility Program 
as described in 49 USC 47504 (formerly section 104(b) of the Act). The 
FAA began its review of the program on May 19, 2003 and was required by 
a provision of the Act to approve or disapprove the program within 180 
days (other than the use of new or modified flight procedures for noise 
control). Failure to approve or disapprove such program within the 180-
day period shall be deemed to be an approval of such program.
    The submitted program contained twenty-eight (28) proposed actions 
for noise mitigation on and off the airport. The FAA completed its 
review and determined that the procedural and substantive requirements 
of the Act and FAR Part 150 have been satisfied. The overall program 
was approved, by the Assistant Administrator for Airports, effective 
November 14, 2003.
    Outright approval was granted for twelve (12) of the twenty-eight 
(28) specific program measures. Fourteen (14) measures were disapproved 
for the purposes of part 150, and two (2) measures required no action. 
The approved measured included such items as: Amending the land use 
plans in-line with A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority 
noise compatibility guidelines; Zone lands near the airport for 
compatible uses consistent with the Airport Master Plan; Local 
government adopt and enforce ordinances and controls to regulate 
building construction methods and material for the purpose of 
attenuating aircraft noise in habitable buildings in and around the 
Airport Noise Zone; Establish a Public Information Program; Require the 
disclosure of aircraft noise levels by property owners and their 
agents; Establish a professional staff responsible for noise 
compatibility and abatement measures; Establish a community Noise 
Advisory Committee that meet regularly to address noise concerns; 
Install Noise Monitoring Equipment; Install Flight Track Systems that 
correlates data with FAA ARTS radar data; Acquire developed non-
compatible property with the 65 DNL contour; Offer howeowners a 
Property Purchase Guarantee to assure that their property would be 
acquired at fair market value and returned use with appropriate sound 
insulation measures, releases, and restrictions if the owner had made a 
``bona fide effort'' to sell the property within the 65 DNL contour 
based on the 2003 NEM; Acoustical treatment of residential, schools and 
other public buildings within the 65 DNL contour.
    The following measures were disapproved pending submission of 
additional information: Establishment of new flight tracks or modifying 
existing flight tracks to concentrate aircraft overflights over areas 
with relatively few noise sensitive land uses; Establishing procedures 
that would require aircraft to follow a Standard Instrument Departure 
(SID) in all weather conditions, including Visual Flight Rules (VFR) 
conditions. SID's normally include departure headings and altitudes to 
be followed; Voluntary procedure that arriving aircraft delay lowering 
flaps and landing gear until closer to the airport; Air Traffic 
restrict the use of visual approaches during VFR conditions; Use of 
sophisticated on-board equipment that integrates signals from a variety 
of ground based and satellite systems to provide a visual course 
reference (vertical and horizontal information) for pilots to navigate 
along predetermined flight track; Displace Runway 6L; Construct 
acounstical barriers; such as noise walls, earth berms, or vegetative 
barriers to help attenuate noise caused by Airport operations; 
Construct high-speed exist taxiways at strategic locations along the 
runway to decrease the need for reverse thrust to slow arriving 
aircraft, and/or eliminate the need to add power to exit a runway via 
perpendicular taxiways; Implement a differential airport user fees 
based on aircraft noise levels and/or time of day of operation; 
Establish an agreement whereby the airport users voluntarily establish 
goals and a timetable/schedule for increasing the percentage of quieter 
aircraft in the airport fleet mix; Restrict aicraft engine run-ups to 
certain hours, location of engine run-up, minimizing or prohibiting 
nightime run-ups, restricting engine power settings to specific levels, 
and/or reducing the length of run-up times at various levels; 
Acquisition of fee-simple privately owned, private land to prevent non-
compatible land use; Require the dedication of avigation easements as a 
condition of building permits in affected areas; Acquisition of fee-
simple privately owned, private non-compatible land use; Require the 
dedication of avigation easements as a condition of building permits in 
affected areas; Acquisition of fee-simple privately owned, private land 
to prevent non-compatible land use. The following measure was 
disapproved: Modify the building code to require specified interior 
noise reduction for new construction in the Airport Noise Zones; 
Dedication of avigation easements as a condition of building permits in 
affected areas.
    The following two measures required no action: Use of Close-in 
Noise Abatement Department Procedures where departing aircraft climb 
under takeoff power to an altitude of at least 800 feet Above Ground 
Level (AGL). Use of Distant Noise Abatement Departure Procedure where 
departing aircraft climb to at least 800 feet AGL, the pitch of the 
aircraft is then decreased and the aircraft accelerates to a speed 
adequate to maintain flight with zero flaps (nominally 210 knots). 
Flaps are then retracted and thrust reduced to a level not less than 
necessary to maintain required climb. Upon reaching 3,000 feet AGL (or 
the coastline is cleared), the aircraft resumes normal climb.
    These determinations are set forth in detail in the Record of 
Approval signed by the Associate Administrator for Airports on November 
14, 2003. The Record of Approval, as well as other evaluation materials 
and the documents comprising the submittal, are available for review at 
the FAA office listed above and at the administrative offices of the 
A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority. The Record of 
Approval also will be available on-line at http://www.faa.gov/arp/environmental/14cfr150/index14.cfrm.

    Issued in Hawthorne, California on December 19, 2003.
Mia Paredes Ratcliff,
Acting Manager, Airports Division, Western-Pacific Region, AWP-600.
[FR Doc. 04-495 Filed 1-9-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M