[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 3, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40196-40197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15986]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice 13-072]


National Environmental Policy Act; Sounding Rockets Program; 
Poker Flat Research Range

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) for the NASA Sounding Rockets Program (SRP) at Poker 
Flat Research Range (PFRR), Alaska.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended, 
(NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality 
Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 
Parts 1500-1508), and NASA's NEPA policy and procedures (14 CFR Part 
1216, subpart 1216.3), NASA has prepared and issued a FEIS for its 
continued use of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) owned and 
managed PFRR, outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and UAF have 
served as Cooperating Agencies in preparing the FEIS.
    The purpose of this notice is to apprise interested agencies, 
organizations, tribal governments, and individuals of the availability 
of the FEIS.

DATES: NASA will issue a Record of Decision (ROD) based on the FEIS no 
sooner than 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of 
Availability of the FEIS.

ADDRESSES: The FEIS may be reviewed at the following locations:
    (a) ARLIS, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska, 99508
    (907-272-7547)
    (b) Z.J. Loussac Public Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, 
Alaska, 99503
    (907-343-2975)
    (c) Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, 310 Tanana Loop, Fairbanks, Alaska, 
99775
    (907-474-7481)
    (d) Noel Wien Library, 1215 Cowles Street, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
    (907-459-1020)
    (e) Juneau Public Library, 292 Marine Way, Juneau, Alaska 99801
    (907-586-5249)
    (f) NASA Headquarters Library, Room 1J20, 300 E Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20546-0001 (202-358-0168)
    A limited number of hard copies of the FEIS are available, on a 
first request basis, by contacting Joshua Bundick, NASA Wallops Flight 
Facility, Mailstop: 250.W, Wallops Island, Virginia 23337; telephone at 
757-824-2319; or electronic mail at [email protected]. The FEIS 
is also available on the Internet in Adobe[supreg] portable document 
format at http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code250/pfrr_eis.html.
    NASA's ROD will be made available, once issued, on the same Web 
site as above and by request to the contact provided above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Bundick, Manager, Poker Flat 
Research Range EIS, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Mailstop: 250.W, 
Wallops Island, Virginia 23337; telephone: 757-824-2319; fax: 757-824-
1819; electronic mail: [email protected]. A toll-free telephone 
number, 800-521-3415, is also available for persons outside the local 
calling area. When using the toll-free number, please follow the menu 
options and enter the ``pound sign ()'' followed by extension 
numbers ``2319.''
    Additional information about NASA's SRP and UAF's PFRR may be found 
on the Internet at http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810 and http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu, respectively. Information regarding the NEPA 
process for this proposal and supporting documents (as available) are 
located at http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code250/pfrr_eis.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since the late 1960s, NASA, other government 
agencies, and educational institutions have conducted suborbital rocket 
launches from the PFRR. While the PFRR is owned and managed by the 
Geophysical Institute of UAF, the NASA SRP has exclusively funded and 
managed the support contract with PFRR for more than 25 years.

[[Page 40197]]

    The PFRR is the only high-latitude, auroral-zone rocket launching 
facility in the United States where a sounding rocket can readily study 
the aurora borealis and the sun-earth connection.

Related Environmental Documents

    In 2010, concerns raised by agencies and organizations regarding 
the potential impact of its operations at PFRR prompted NASA to review 
its 2000 SRP Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS). 
In doing so, NASA determined that while the overall environmental 
analysis in the 2000 SRP FSEIS remains sufficient to support the 
Agency's broad decision to continue the SRP at PFRR, potential changes 
in both operations and the environmental context of the launch corridor 
north of the site warranted preparation of additional site-specific 
environmental analysis. Accordingly, the FEIS tiers from the 
programmatic 2000 FSEIS and provides a focused analysis of SRP 
operations at PFRR.

Alternatives

    The FEIS evaluates the environmental consequences of five 
alternative means for continuing sounding rocket launches at PFRR. The 
alternatives differ primarily in the level of effort that would be 
exerted to locate and recover past and future launch related items in 
downrange lands. Two alternatives also include a restriction on 
planning rocket motor or payload impacts within designated Wild or 
Scenic Rivers. NASA has identified Alternative 1, Continue NASA SRP 
Activities and Flights at PFRR within Existing Flight Zones with 
Environmental Screening for Recovery of New and Existing Stages and 
Payloads (Environmentally Responsible Search and Recovery Alternative) 
as its Preferred Alternative.

Cooperating Agency Actions

    The FEIS will serve as a decision-making tool not only for NASA but 
also for its two Federal Cooperating Agencies, BLM and USFWS. Directly 
north of the PFRR launch site are its downrange flight zones, over 
which rockets are launched and within which spent stages and payloads 
impact the ground. Within these flight zones are BLM's Steese National 
Conservation Area and White Mountain National Recreational Area, and 
the USFWS-managed Arctic and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuges. 
Historically, the managing entities have issued UAF annual or multi-
year special-use authorizations for impact of rockets and recovery 
operations on these lands.
    BLM and USFWS are currently considering if and how future 
authorizations for rocket impact and recovery would be issued for the 
lands under their management. As such, the FEIS considers the effects 
of each agency's respective action--both issuance and non-issuance of 
future authorizations.

Review of Draft EIS

    NASA mailed over 150 copies of the Draft EIS (DEIS) to potentially 
interested Federal, State, and local agencies; tribal governments; 
organizations; individuals; and public reading rooms. Following the 
U.S. EPA's publication of a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the DEIS in 
the Federal Register on September 28, 2012 (77 FR 59611), NASA 
published its own NOA of the DEIS on October 10, 2012 (77 FR 61642). In 
addition, NASA held public meetings in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, 
and made the DEIS publicly available in electronic format on the 
project Web site. The public review and comment period for the DEIS 
closed on November 28, 2012. NASA received a total of 6 submissions 
(letters, emails, and transcribed oral comments) from Federal agencies, 
non-governmental organizations, and individuals. The resulting 40 
comments received spanned a broad range of topics; however the majority 
of commenters expressed concern regarding effects of the SRP on special 
use lands (e.g., designated Wilderness and Wild Rivers) and wilderness-
based recreation. Both the comments received on the DEIS and NASA's 
responses to those comments are included in the FEIS in Appendix K. In 
parallel with preparing the FEIS, NASA also formally consulted with 
resource agencies regarding the potential effects of its operations on 
federally threatened and endangered species and cultural and historic 
resources. The outcomes of these consultations are summarized in the 
FEIS and are also included in Appendix A.
    In summary, notice of the availability of the FEIS is hereby given.

Olga M. Dominguez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Strategic Infrastructure.
[FR Doc. 2013-15986 Filed 7-2-13; 8:45 am]
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