Notice of Modification to Previously Published Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment, 42221 [2017-18920]

Agencies

• Federal Aviation Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 42221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18920]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Notice of Modification to Previously Published Notice of Intent 
To Prepare an Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FAA is publishing this notice to advise the public of a 
modification to the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and notice of opportunity for public comment published 
in the Federal Register on April 21, 2014. Specifically, FAA is 
withdrawing a Terminal Area Apron Expansion Project from the scope of 
the EA, and the project will be subject instead to a discrete 
environmental review.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Parks Preston, Assistant Manager, 
Atlanta Airports District Office, 1701 Columbia Avenue, Room 220, 
College Park, Georgia 30337-2747, (404) 305-6799.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport (PUJ) is 
located outside Atlanta, Georgia, in the town of Dallas, Georgia. 
Paulding County and the Paulding County Airport Authority (PCAA) own 
the airport. PUJ opened in 2008 and is designated as a general aviation 
airport. An EA for the construction of PUJ was completed in 2005. The 
2005 EA evaluated the future Terminal Area Apron Expansion. In 2011, 
PUJ owners redesigned the Terminal Area Apron Expansion and conducted a 
supplemental environmental assessment (SEA) to consider potential 
environmental impacts associated with the revised project. The Georgia 
Department of Transportation (GDOT), as authorized by the FAA's State 
Block Grant Program, issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), 
and the FAA issued a Record of Decision on the SEA in March 2011.
    In September 2013, the PCAA submitted an application to the FAA 
requesting an Airport Operating Certificate under title 14 Code of 
Regulations, Part 139. A Part 139 Airport Operating Certificate allows 
the airport to accommodate scheduled passenger-carrying operations, 
commonly referred to as ``commercial service.'' In November 2013, 
several Paulding County residents filed a Petition for Review in the 
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia of two 
categorical exclusions issued by GDOT for airfield improvement 
projects. The petitioners argued that the two projects were connected 
to the proposed introduction of commercial service at PUJ. On December 
23, 2013, the petitioners and the FAA entered into a settlement 
agreement under which the FAA agreed to prepare, at a minimum, an EA 
for the proposed Part 139 Airport Operating Certificate and all 
connected actions. The FAA is currently in the process of preparing 
that EA (current EA). While the settlement agreement contemplated that 
the current EA would include all actions connected with the proposed 
issuance of the Part 139 Airport Operating Certificate, the FAA opted 
to include in the current EA all reasonably foreseeable airport 
improvement projects, whether or not connected with the proposed 
introduction of commercial service.
    On April 21, 2014, the FAA published a ``Notice of Intent to 
Prepare an Environmental Assessment and Notice of Opportunity for 
Public Comment'' in the Federal Register, 79 FR 22177. The Notice of 
Intent identified all of the projects intended to be reviewed in the 
EA, including ``construct[ion of] a terminal area expansion to provide 
hangars and apron area'' which is the Terminal Area Apron Expansion 
Project. FAA Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and 
Procedures, requires that where major steps toward implementation of 
the proposed action have not commenced within 3 years from the date of 
the issuance of an environmental finding, further environmental review 
is required. The current EA was to include the Terminal Area Apron 
Expansion Project because major steps toward implementation of the 
project had not been undertaken since the issuance of the FONSI in 
March 2011.
    PUJ owners now desire to move forward with the Terminal Area Apron 
Expansion Project more expeditiously than will be possible if the 
project remains within the scope of the current EA. The primary need 
for expediting this project is the approaching expiration of a permit 
for the project issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under 
section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
    In accordance with FAA Order 1050.1F, where major steps toward 
implementation of a proposed action have not commenced within 3 years 
from the date of the issuance of a FONSI, a written reevaluation may be 
prepared. In this case, the general aviation apron has independent 
utility, is not connected to the Part 139 Airport Operating 
Certificate, and is therefore not required by the National 
Environmental Policy Act or the terms of the 2013 settlement agreement 
to be included in the EA. Accordingly, the current EA will no longer 
consider direct impacts of the Terminal Area Apron Expansion Project, 
but will address potential cumulative impacts associated with the 
project.
    To satisfy the requirements of FAA Order 1050.1F, GDOT has prepared 
a written reevaluation of the project, and FAA concurred. The written 
reevaluation is available for review at PUJ and online at https://www.paulding.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5935.

    Issued in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 28, 2017.
Larry F. Clark,
Manager, Atlanta Airports District Office, Southern Region.
[FR Doc. 2017-18920 Filed 9-5-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P