[Federal Register: January 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 7)]
[Notices]
[Page 1774-1775]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12ja04-122]
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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