National Environmental Policy Act; Sounding Rockets Program; Poker Flat Research Range, 61642-61643 [2012-24891]

Agencies

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61642-61643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24891]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice 12-079]


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

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS) 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 DEIS for its 
continued use of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) owned and 
managed PFRR, outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and UAF have served 
as Cooperating Agencies in preparing the DEIS. The purpose of this 
notice is to apprise interested agencies, organizations, tribal 
governments, and individuals of the availability of the DEIS and to 
invite comments on the document. In cooperation with BLM, UAF, and 
USFWS, NASA will hold public meetings as part of the DEIS review 
process. The meeting locations and dates identified at this time are 
provided under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit comments on 
environmental issues and concerns, preferably in writing, within sixty 
(60) days from the date of publication in the Federal Register of the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of Availability of the 
DEIS. Once known, this date will be published on the project Web site 
presented under ADDRESSES below.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted by mail should be addressed to Joshua 
Bundick, Manager, Poker Flat Research Range EIS, NASA Goddard Space 
Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, Mailstop: 250.W, Wallops 
Island, Virginia 23337. Comments may be submitted via email to 
Joshua.A.Bundick@nasa.gov.
    The DEIS 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 DEIS are available, on a 
first request basis, by contacting the NASA point of contact listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. The DEIS is available on the internet in 
Adobe[supreg] portable document format at https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code250/pfrr_eis.html. The Federal Register Notice of Intent to 
prepare the DEIS, issued on April 13, 2011, is also available on the 
internet at the same Web site address.

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; email: Joshua.A.Bundick@nasa.gov. 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 https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810 and https://www.pfrr.alaska.edu, respectively. Information regarding the NEPA 
process for this proposal and supporting documents (as available) are 
located at https://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. 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 recent years, 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 DEIS 
tiers from the programmatic 2000 FSEIS and provides a focused analysis 
of SRP operations at PFRR.

[[Page 61643]]

Cooperating Agency Actions

    The PFRR EIS 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 facility 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 and agreements for impact of 
rockets and recovery operations on these lands.
    BLM and USFWS are currently considering if and how future 
authorizations for rocket landing and recovery would be issued for the 
properties under their management. As such, the DEIS considers the 
effects of each agency's respective permitting actions.

Alternatives

    The DEIS 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.

Public Meetings

    NASA and its Cooperating Agencies plan to hold public meetings in 
Alaska to discuss the SRP at PFRR and to solicit comments on the DEIS.
    The public meetings are currently scheduled for:

--Wednesday, October 24, 2012, at the USFWS Alaska Regional Office, 
Gordon Watson Conference Room, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska, 
6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
--Thursday, October 25, 2012, at the BLM Fairbanks District Office, 
1150 University Avenue, Fairbanks, Alaska, 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

    Times and locations of additional meetings, particularly those with 
interior Villages, will be coordinated with the respective governing 
bodies and published locally as they are scheduled. NASA will consider 
all comments received in developing its Final EIS; comments received 
and responses to comments will be included in the Final document. In 
conclusion, written public input on environmental issues and concerns 
associated with NASA's SRP launches at PFRR are hereby requested.

Olga M. Dominguez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Strategic Infrastructure.
[FR Doc. 2012-24891 Filed 10-9-12; 8:45 am]
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