Appendix 4. FAA Procedures for
Processing SUA Actions Aeronautical
and Environmental Summary Table
(The aeronautical
and environmental processes may not
always occur in parallel.)
(This Appendix is
for use with
Appendix 2 and
Appendix 3, and the numbers
correlate to numbers on those
charts.)
(See note below.)
AERONAUTICAL
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ENVIRONMENTAL
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1. Proponent must
present to the Facility a
Pre-draft concept (i.e.,
new/ revisions to SUA needed
or required).
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1. Proponent must
discuss with the Service
Area, at the earliest time,
the potential for
environmental impacts
associated with the
proposal. |
|
2. If there is the
potential for environmental
impacts, Proponent must make
a request to the FAA for a
Cooperating Agency (CA)
status when Proponent
decides to initiate the
environmental process.
Proponent must forward the
request to the Director of
the Mission Support,
Airspace Services.
The Director will transmit
the request to the Airspace
Management Group who
prepares and forwards the
response to Proponent. The
Airspace Management Group
will send a courtesy copy of
the response to the
responsible Service Area.
The Service Area
environmental
specialist works as the FAA
point of contact throughout
the process in development
of any required
environmental documentation.
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|
3. Proponent submits a
Preliminary Draft EA or EIS
to the Service Area
environmental specialist.
The
Service Area environmental
specialist must provide
comments, in consultation
with the airspace specialist
and the Airspace Management
Group, back to Proponent.
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2. Proponent forwards
the aeronautical proposal to
the FAA Service Area for
review and processing by the
airspace specialist.
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4. Proponent prepares a
Draft EA or EIS with a
45-day public comment
period.
As the
FAA CA point of contact, the
Service Area environmental
specialist reviews the
associated draft
environmental documentation
to ensure that the Proponent
addressed adequately all
environmental concerns
submitted on the Preliminary
Draft. If required, the
Service Area environmental
specialist forwards the
draft environmental
documentation to the
Airspace Management Group
for review and comment by
the headquarters
environmental specialist and
the Office of Chief Counsel.
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3. The Service Area
airspace specialist, in
accordance with this order,
determines the type of
airspace action(s)
necessary, either
Non-Rulemaking or
Rulemaking. FAA Service Area
and Proponent determine if
informal Airspace Meetings
are required. |
|
For
Non-Rulemaking:
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4. The Service Area
airspace specialist sends
out a circularization with a
45-day public comment
period. The Service Area
airspace specialist reviews
and prepares, in
consultation with the
Proponent, responses to the
aeronautical comments from
the study and
circularization in
accordance with
Chapter 21 of this
order. |
5. The Proponent
reviews comments
received on their Draft
EA/FONSI or EIS and
prepares their responses
to the comments, in
consultation with the FAA
and other cooperating
agencies, if necessary,
and in accordance with
Chapter 32 of this
order.
|
|
6. Proponent prepares
and submits their Final EA/FONSI
or EIS/ROD to the Service
Area environmental
specialist. |
|
7. The Service Area
environmental specialist
prepares a Draft FAA FONSI/ROD
or Draft FAA Adoption
Document/ROD.
|
|
8. The Service Area
environmental specialist
submits the Draft FAA
FONSI/ROD or Draft FAA
Adoption Document/ROD and
the Proponent's Final EA/FONSI
or EIS/ROD to the Service
Area airspace specialist
for inclusion with the
airspace proposal package.
|
5. The Service Area
airspace specialist then
sends the completed package
containing the aeronautical
proposal, response to
comments, Proponent's Final
EA/FONSI, and the Draft FAA
FONSI/ROD to the
Headquarters Airspace
Regulations and ATC
Procedures Group with their
recommendation. |
|
For
Rulemaking: |
6. The Service Area
airspace specialist sends
the proposal to the Airspace
Regulations and ATC
Procedures Group who
prepares a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).
The Headquarters Airspace
Regulations and ATC
Procedures Group submits the
NPRM for publication in the
Federal Register with a
45-day comment period in
accordance with
Chapter 2 of this order.
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7. The Headquarters
airspace specialist
sends comments received on
the NPRM to the Service Area
airspace specialist for
resolution. |
|
8. The Service Area
airspace specialist
then sends the completed
package containing the
response to comments,
final service area
recommendation, the
proposal, Proponent's Final
EA/FONSI or EIS/ROD, and the
Draft FAA FONSI/ROD or Draft
FAA Adoption Document/ROD to
the Headquarters Airspace
Regulations and ATC
Procedures Group
for preparation of the Final
Rule. |
|
9. The Headquarters
airspace specialist forwards
the draft final rule package
or draft non-rulemaking case
summary (NRCS) with all
supporting documentation to
the Headquarters Airspace
Management Group for review
(after all aeronautical
comments have been
resolved).
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9. The Headquarters
environmental specialist
reviews the package for
environmental technical
accuracy; then submits the
environmental documentation
to the Office of the Chief
Counsel, Airports and
Environmental Law Division,
for legal sufficiency review
(having collaborated
throughout the process).
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10. The Chief Counsel's
environmental attorney's
comments are incorporated
into the final FAA
environmental decision and
signed by Headquarters
Airspace Management Group
Manager.
The
package is then returned to
the Headquarters Airspace
Regulations and ATC
Procedures Group.
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10. For Non-rulemaking:
The
non-rulemaking action is
published in the National
Flight Data Digest (NFDD).
11. For Rulemaking:
The Final
Rule is published in the
Federal Register. The Final
Rule will contain a
reference to the decision
rendered and location of
documentation for the
associated environmental
process. |
|
Consult the
following documents throughout the
process for further information:
l Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations
for Implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 40
CFR Parts 1500-1508
l FAA Order
1050.1E, “Environmental Impacts:
Policies and Procedures"
l FAA Order
7400.2, “Procedures for Handling
Airspace Matters," Part 5
l FAA Order
7400.2,
Chapter 32, “Environmental
Matters" and the associated
appendixes (for specific SUA
environmental direction)
NOTE: The
time periods below are for a
non-controversial aeronautical
proposal and its associated
environmental process. The time
periods are for FAA
review/processing only. Times for
proponent and/or environmental
contract support processing must be
added.
ENVIRONMENTAL:
The estimated time of completion for
EA processing is 12 to 18 months or,
for EIS processing, 18 to 36 months.
AERONAUTICAL
(Non-Rulemaking): A minimum 4 months
is required from submission of the
Formal Airspace Proposal by the
Proponent to the Service Area
through completion of the
circularization process.
Additionally, a minimum of 6 months
is required from submission of the
Formal Airspace Proposal by the
Service Area to Headquarters through
completion of the charting process.
AERONAUTICAL
(Rulemaking): A minimum 6 weeks for
Service Area processing, and a
minimum of 9 months to complete
rulemaking once the formal package
is received at Headquarters. |