[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 96 (Thursday, May 19, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 29066-29067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-9827]



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Part IV





Department of Transportation





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Federal Aviation Administration



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14 CFR Part 150



Airport Noise Compatibility Planning; Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 96 / Thursday, May 19, 2005 / Rules 
and Regulations  

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 150

[Docket No. FAA-2004-19158; Amendment No. 150-4]
RIN 2120-AI37


Airport Noise Compatibility Planning

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Disposition of comments.

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SUMMARY: On September 24, 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration 
(FAA) published a final rule, with request for comments, to amend the 
regulations implementing airport noise compatibility planning. The 
amendment included revisions stemming from changes to the authorizing 
legislation that had not been incorporated into the implementing 
regulations. In addition, the final rule contained several minor, 
technical changes. This action is a summary and disposition of the 
comments received in response to that final rule.

ADDRESSES: You can view the complete document for the final rule by 
going to http://dms.dot.gov. You can also go to Room PL-401 of the 
Nassif Building (plaza level), 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, 
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria L. Catlett, APP-600, Office 
of Airport Planning and Programming, Federal Aviation Administration, 
800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 
267-3263; facsimile (202) 267-8821; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background

    The regulations which prescribe the procedures, standards and 
methodologies governing the development, submission and review of 
airport noise exposure maps (NEMs) and airport noise compatibility 
programs are found at 14 CFR part 150 et seq. The underlying 
authorizing legislation for these regulations is found at 49 U.S.C. 
47501 et seq. and was formerly known as the Aviation Safety and Noise 
Abatement Act of 1979 (ASNA) and 49 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.
    The final rule entitled ``Airport Noise Compatibility Planning'' 
(69 FR 57622, September 24, 2004) amended part 150 to conform to the 
following changes in the authorizing legislation:
    1. On December 30, 1987, Congress enacted the Airport and Airway 
Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1987, Public Law 100-223 (AASCE). 
Section 301 of AASCE amended the authorizing legislation to require 
airport sponsors to provide notice and an opportunity for a public 
hearing before filing noise compatibility programs with the FAA.
    2. In 1994, the major Federal transportation laws enacted before 
July 1, 1993, were repealed, restated without substantive changes, and 
recodified in title 49 of the United States Code (``Revision of Title 
49, United States Code Annotated, `Transportation''', Public Law 103-
272, July 25, 1994). Based on this recodification, the statutory 
citations in part 150 needed to be updated to reflect the repeal and 
replacement of ASNA.
    3. On December 12, 2003, the President signed Vision 100--Century 
of Aviation Reauthorization Act, Public Law 108-176 (Vision 100). 
Section 324 of Vision 100 amended the authorizing legislation to 
clarify that sponsors should prepare NEMs for a forecast period that is 
at least five years in the future and to require revised NEMs when 
changes in the operation of the airport would significantly reduce 
noise over existing noncompatible land uses not reflected in either the 
existing or forecast NEM.
    In addition, the final rule included several minor, technical 
revisions. First, it changed the minimum scale of NEMs to ease the 
FAA's implementation of Section 322 of Vision 100. Section 322 requires 
us to make noise exposure and land use information from NEMs available 
to the public on the Internet via our Web site. We determined that, 
given the amount of information contained in NEMs, it is necessary to 
enlarge the minimum scale to allow us to provide useful information on 
the Internet. The final rule also changed the locations where documents 
are available for inspection because several FAA regional offices have 
moved since 1989.

Discussion of Comments

    The docket received two comments in response to the final rule. The 
first, from the Los Angeles International Airport/Community Noise 
Roundtable (the Roundtable), offers its support, stating the revisions 
to part 150 improve and support its efforts to mitigate noise impacts. 
The Roundtable believes allowing an airport sponsor to select an NEM 
forecast period longer than five years is desirable, stating this 
flexible forecast period is more likely to indicate significant future 
noise impacts when applying the FAA's day-night average sound level 
metric and incremental change criteria. Finally, the Roundtable 
believes posting noise exposure and land use information from NEMs on 
the FAA's Web site is an important step in keeping communities informed 
about current and projected future noise exposure.
    The second comment, from the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority 
(RDAA), disagrees with the change that allows airport sponsors to 
select a flexible forecast period for their NEMs.
    RDAA believes the forecast period for NEMs should remain at five 
years, and that airports should be given the option to produce a 
forecast NEM for an additional forecast period (for example, ten years) 
for the following reasons:
     RDAA notes that forecasts exceeding five years could prove 
inaccurate as noise impacts at airports do not remain constant (even if 
the airfield does) due to changes to the number of operations, the 
times of operations, the types of airplane equipment used and runway 
use.
     RDAA states that five and ten-year forecast periods for 
NEMs could help airports and the FAA identify areas of existing non-
compatibility for noise mitigation within five years and areas of 
future non-compatibility for rezoning within ten years.
     RDAA believes that keeping the five-year forecast period 
could prevent debate between the FAA and an airport over the need to 
develop a revised NEM when noise exposure is changing a small 
percentage every year.
    Based on the plain language in Vision 100 about NEM forecast 
periods, Congress clearly intended to make five years a minimum, but no 
longer a mandatory, forecast period. The FAA has amended Sec.  
150.21(a)(1) to allow for use of periods greater than five years 
pursuant to Vision 100. The ability to use longer forecast periods does 
not represent a significant change. The FAA previously permitted 
airport sponsors to prepare additional maps for forecast periods 
greater than five years and airport sponsors may still do so. The 
change to allow airport sponsors to select a forecast period longer 
than five years provides them flexibility. While airport sponsors are 
still required to select a forecast period of at least five years, they 
are not required to select a forecast period beyond five years. This 
flexibility reduces the possibility of conflicting information among 
various airport-related studies and enables airport sponsors to adjust 
the NEM forecast period where other related studies are using initial 
forecast periods longer than five years.
    As for RDAA's concern that debates between the FAA and airports 
will

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increase about whether small changes in noise require NEM updates, the 
FAA respectfully disagrees. Section 150.21(d) requires airport sponsors 
to update their NEMs if a change in the operation of the airport would 
create a significant increase in noise over noncompatible land uses not 
reflected on the NEM. Pursuant to Section 324 of Vision 100, airport 
sponsors are now also required to update their NEMs if changes in the 
operation of the airport would cause a significant reduction in noise 
over existing noncompatible land uses not reflected on an NEM. 
Experience has shown that it normally would take a substantial change 
in operations at an airport to trigger a 1.5 day-night average sound 
level increase or decrease that would warrant an NEM update.
    Existing tools, including the Area Equivalent Method, are available 
to help airport sponsors monitor changes in the NEMs. The Area 
Equivalent Method is a mathematical procedure that provides an 
estimated noise contour area of a specific airport given the types of 
aircraft and the number of operations for each aircraft. Airport 
sponsors normally monitor the progress of their noise compatibility 
program implementation. Also, airport sponsors may crosscheck existing 
NEM information already on file with noise contours being generated for 
ongoing environmental or planning studies. All these methods should 
provide a relatively simple way to determine if the NEM on file with 
the FAA needs to be updated.

Conclusion

    After consideration of the comments submitted in response to the 
final rule, the FAA has determined that no further rulemaking action is 
necessary. Amendment No. 1150-4 remains in effect as adopted.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2005.
Marion C. Blakey,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-9827 Filed 5-18-05; 8:45 am]
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