Notice of Availability and Request for Comment on the Spaceport Camden Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Camden County, GA
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 52 (Friday, March 16, 2018)]
[Notices] [Pages 11810-11811] From the Federal Register Online via the
Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2018-05322]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Office
of Commercial Space Transportation: Notice of Availability and Request
for Comment on the Spaceport Camden Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS), Camden County, GA
AGENCY: The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation (DOT) is the lead
agency. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National
Park Service are cooperating agencies.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment; Notice of public hearings.
SUMMARY:
The FAA is announcing the availability of and requesting comments on
the Spaceport Camden Draft EIS, which is available for public review.
The Draft EIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts that may
result from the FAA’s Proposed Action of issuing a Launch Site Operator
License to the Camden County Board of Commissioners (County) to operate a
proposed commercial space launch site, called Spaceport Camden. The
license would allow the County to offer Spaceport Camden to commercial
launch operators to conduct vertical launches.
DATES: Comments
must be received on or before May 16, 2018. The FAA will hold two public
hearings to solicit comments from the public concerning the content of
the Draft EIS. The dates of the hearings are Wednesday, April 11, and
Thursday, April 12, 2018, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
ADDRESSES:
The FAA will hold the two public hearings at the following location:
Camden County Public Service Authority Recreation Center Community Room,
1050 Wildcat Drive, Kingsland, GA 31548 (912-729-5600). A paper copy of
the Draft EIS is available for review during regular business hours at
the following libraries:
Camden County Public Library, 1410 Georgia Highway 40, Kingsland, GA 31548
St. Marys Public Library, 100 Herb Bauer Drive, St. Marys, GA 31558
Brunswick-Glynn County Library, 208 Gloucester Street, Brunswick, GA 31520
St. Simons Island Public Library, 530A Beachview Drive, St. Simons Island, GA, 31522
Comments
regarding the Draft EIS should be mailed to Ms. Stacey M. Zee,
Environmental Specialist, Federal Aviation Administration, c/o Leidos,
2109 Air Park Road SE, Suite 200, Albuquerque, NM 87106. Comments may
also be submitted by email to FAACamdenSpaceportEIS@Leidos.com.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Stacey M. Zee, Environmental
Specialist, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Ave. SW,
Suite 325, Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 267-9305; email
FAACamdenSpaceportEIS@Leidos.com.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
FAA is announcing the availability of and requesting comments on the
Spaceport Camden Draft EIS, in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 as amended (42 United States Code
[U.S.C.] Sec. Sec. 4321 et seq.), Council on Environmental Quality
Regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 1500-1508), and FAA
Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures. This
Draft EIS is also submitted for review pursuant to the following public
law requirements: Section 4(f) of the DOT Act (49 U.S.C. 303); Section
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 300101 et
seq.); Executive Order (E.O.) 11988, Floodplain Management; DOT Order
5650.2, Floodplain Management and Protection; E.O. 11990, Protection of
Wetlands; and DOT Order 5660.1A, Preservation of the Nation’s Wetlands.
Pursuant to the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, this
project is being evaluated for consistency with the Georgia Coastal
Management Program. Section 306(d)(14) of the Act requires public
participation in the Federal consistency review process. The FAA
encourages the public to submit comments on the compatibility of the
Proposed Action and alternatives with these special purpose laws.
An
electronic version of the Draft EIS is available on the FAA Office of
Commercial Space Transportation website at:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/environmental/nepa_docs/review/documents_progress/camden_spaceport/.
The
FAA encourages all interested agencies, organizations, Native American
tribes, and members of the public to submit comments concerning the
analysis presented in the Draft EIS by May 16, 2018. Comments should be
as specific as possible and address the analysis of potential
environmental impacts and the adequacy of the proposed action or merits
of alternatives and any mitigations being considered. Reviewers should
organize their participation so that it is meaningful and makes the
agency aware of the viewer’s interests and concerns using quotations and
other specific references to the text of the Draft EIS and related
documents. Matters that could have been raised with specificity during
the comment period on the Draft EIS may not be considered if they are
raised for the first time later in the decision process. This commenting
procedure is intended to ensure that substantive comments and concerns
are made available to the FAA in a timely manner so that the FAA has an
opportunity to address them.
Before including your address, phone
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in
your comment, be advised that your entire comment–including your
personal identifying information– may be made publicly available at any
time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold from public
review your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee that
we will be able to do so.
Due to the large turnout during the
public scoping meetings, the FAA will hold two public hearings to
solicit comments from the public concerning the content of the Draft EIS
on Wednesday, April 11 and Thursday, April 12, 2018, from 5:30 p.m. to
8:30 p.m. at the following location: Camden County Public Service
Authority Recreation Center Community Room, 1050 Wildcat Drive,
Kingsland, GA 31548 (912-729-5600).
At the public hearings, the
FAA will present information about the Draft EIS and the environmental
review process. Please note the FAA will present identical information
at each public hearing. If you are planning to provide oral comments
during the hearing, we ask that you speak at only one of the hearings,
so that everyone wanting to present comments has the opportunity to do
so, as time is limited. The purpose of the public hearings is to afford
the public and other interested parties the opportunity to comment on
the analysis of the Proposed Action and alternatives presented in the
Draft EIS. Members of the public and other interested parties will be
provided the opportunity to submit both written and oral comments. The
hearings will include a poster information session and an FAA
presentation, followed by a public statement period in which members of
the public can present up to a three-minute statement. The FAA will
transcribe oral comments. All comments received during the comment
period will be given equal weight and taken into consideration during
preparation of the Final EIS.
Under the Proposed Action, the FAA
would issue a Launch Site Operator License to the County. The license
would allow the County to offer Spaceport Camden to commercial launch
operators to conduct launches of liquid-fueled, small to medium-large
lift-class, orbital and suborbital vertical launch vehicles. The license
would allow up to 12 vertical launches and up to 12 associated launch
vehicle first-stage landings per year. In support of the launches, there
would be up to 12 wet dress rehearsals and up to 12 static fire engine
tests per year. All vehicles would launch to the east, from between 83
degrees (slightly north of due east) and 115 degrees (approximately east
southeast), over the Intracoastal Waterway, Cumberland Island National
Seashore and/or Little Cumberland Island, and the Atlantic Ocean. The
Proposed Action includes possible recovery of the first stage by either
landing the stage at Spaceport Camden or landing the stage on a barge
approximately 200 to 300 miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean and
returning it to Spaceport Camden.
Alternatives under
consideration in the Draft EIS include the Proposed Action, an
Ocean-Landing Only Alternative (similar to the Proposed Action except
first-stage landings would only occur on a barge approximately 200 to
300 miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean), and the No Action
Alternative.
The Draft EIS evaluates the potential direct,
indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts that may result from the
Proposed Action, Ocean-Landing Only Alternative, and the No Action
Alternative. The FAA assessed impact categories to provide a context for
understanding and assessing the potential environmental impacts of the
construction and operation, as well as secondary (induced) impacts
associated with the Proposed Action and alternatives. The Draft EIS
focuses on the following impact categories: Air quality; biological
resources (including fish, wildlife, and plants); climate; coastal
resources; Department of Transportation Act, Section 4(f) (including
park and recreational lands, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and
historic sites in transportation project development); farmlands;
hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution prevention; historical,
architectural, archeological, and cultural resources; land use; natural
resources and energy supply; noise and compatible land use;
socioeconomics, environmental justice, and children’s environmental
health and safety risks; visual effects (including light emissions), and
water resources (including wetlands, floodplains, surface waters,
groundwater, and wild and scenic rivers). The following topics were also
analyzed and are appended to the Draft EIS: Health and safety, soils
and geology, transportation, and airspace.
Issued in Washington,
DC, on March 9, 2018. Daniel Murray, Manager, Space Transportation
Development Division. [FR Doc. 2018-05322 Filed 3-15-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
