[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 73 (Friday, April 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22364-22365]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08746]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Office of Commercial Space Transportation; Notice of Availability
of the Final Environmental Assessment (Final EA), Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI)/Record of Decision (ROD) for the Kodiak
Launch Complex Launch Pad 3, Kodiak Island, Alaska
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of availability of the Final EA and FONSI/ROD.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA; 42 United States Code 4321 et seq.), Council on
Environmental Quality NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR parts 1500
to 1508), and FAA Order 1050.1E, Change 1, Environmental Impacts:
Policies and Procedures, the FAA is announcing the availability of the
Final EA and FONSI/ROD for the Kodiak Launch Complex Launch Pad 3.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Stacey M. Zee, Office of
Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 800
Independence Ave. SW., Suite 325, Washington DC 20591; email
[email protected]; telephone (202) 267-9305.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final EA was prepared to analyze the
potential environmental impacts of the FAA modifying the Alaska
Aerospace Corporation's (AAC's) Launch Site Operator License to include
medium-lift launch capability at the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), a
commercial launch site currently operated under a FAA Launch Site
Operator License (LSO-03-008), which authorizes only small-lift
operations. The Kodiak Launch Complex was renamed as Pacific Spaceport
Complex Alaska, effective April 21, 2015. The EA keeps the name as KLC
for continuity and ease of reviewing.
Expansion of launch capabilities at KLC would include the addition
of new infrastructure necessary to support
[[Page 22365]]
medium-lift launches, including the construction of a launch pad and
associated facilities. As part of the Proposed Action addressed in the
EA, AAC would make improvements to the KLC to add both solid and
liquid-propellant, medium-lift launch capability, and to operate the
KLC in the future as a small-lift and medium-lift launch complex.
Proposed construction at KLC includes six primary modifications:
Construction of Launch Pad 3 (LP3), a vehicle processing facility,
rocket staging facility, liquid fuel facility, mission control center
and improvements to Pasagshak Point Road. Proposed launch operations
would include up to six orbital small-lift launches and three medium-
lift launches per year from the existing launch pads and from the
proposed LP3; however, to be conservative in the analysis of potential
environmental impacts, the EA assumes a maximum of nine medium-lift
launches per year.
The EA addresses the potential environmental impacts of
implementing the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative. Under
the No Action Alternative, the FAA would not modify AAC's Launch Site
Operator License to include medium-lift launch capability and AAC would
not proceed with the construction of medium-lift launch support
infrastructure at KLC. Existing launch activities for up to nine
orbital small-lift class launches per year from the existing launch
pads would continue.
The impact categories considered in the EA include air quality;
compatible land use; Department of Transportation Act: Section 4(f);
fish, wildlife, and plants; hazardous materials, pollution prevention,
and solid waste; historical, architectural, archaeological, and
cultural resources; light emissions and visual impacts; natural
resources and energy supply; noise; socioeconomic, environmental
justice, and children's environmental health and safety risk; water
quality; and wetlands. The EA also considers potential cumulative
environmental impacts.
The FAA has posted the Final EA and FONSI/ROD on the FAA Office of
Commercial Space Transportation Web site: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/environmental/nepa_docs/review/operator/.
The FAA published a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft EA in
the Federal Register on September 15, 2014. An electronic version was
also made available on the FAA Web site. In addition, the FAA printed
and mailed a copy of the Draft EA to local libraries. The FAA held an
open house public meeting on October 7, 2014. The public comment period
for the Draft EA ended on November 1, 2014. After taking into
consideration the nature of public comments received on the Draft EA,
the FAA issued a Second Draft EA and provided the public with an
opportunity to review and comment on updates and clarification
information that had since been added to the EA in response to public
comments. The FAA published a NOA of the Second Draft EA in the Federal
Register on December 7, 2015. Interested parties were invited to submit
comments on the Second Draft EA by January 11, 2016. Public comments on
the Second Draft EA resulted in minor changes to the EA.
Issued in Washington, DC, on April 11, 2016.
Daniel Murray,
Manager, Space Transportation Development Division.
[FR Doc. 2016-08746 Filed 4-14-16; 8:45 am]
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