I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4198 

To provide standards for determining whether the substantial restoration 

of the natural quiet and experience of the Grand Canyon National 

Park has been achieved and to clarify regulatory authority with respect 

to commercial air tours operating over the Park. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2012 

Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. 

SCHWEIKERT, Mr. QUAYLE, Mr. HECK, Mr. AMODEI, and Mr. FLAKE) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide standards for determining whether the substantial 

restoration of the natural quiet and experience of the 

Grand Canyon National Park has been achieved and 

to clarify regulatory authority with respect to commercial 

air tours operating over the Park. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grand Canyon Tour5 ism Jobs Protection Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OVERFLIGHTS IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK. 

2 (a) DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO SUBSTAN3 TIAL RESTORATION OF NATURAL QUIET AND EXPERI4 ENCE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of law, for purposes of section 3(b)(1) of 

7 Public Law 100–91 (16 U.S.C. 1a–1 note), the sub8 stantial restoration of the natural quiet and experi9 ence of the Grand Canyon National Park (in this 

10 subsection referred to as the ‘‘Park’’) shall be con11 sidered to be achieved in the Park if, for at least 75 

12 percent of each day, 50 percent of the Park is free 

13 of sound produced by commercial air tour operations 

14 that have an allocation to conduct commercial air 

15 tours in the Park as of the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act. 

17 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter19 mining whether substantial restoration of the 

20 natural quiet and experience of the Park has 

21 been achieved in accordance with paragraph 

22 (1), the Secretary of the Interior (in this sec23 tion referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall use— 

24 (i) the 2-zone system for the Park in 

25 effect on the date of the enactment of this 

26 Act to assess impacts relating to subsecVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:15 Mar 16, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4198.IH H4198

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1 tional restoration of natural quiet at the 

2 Park, including— 

3 (I) the thresholds for 

4 noticeability and audibility; and 

5 (II) the distribution of land be6 tween the 2 zones; and 

7 (ii) noise modeling science that is— 

8 (I) developed for use at the Park, 

9 specifically Integrated Noise Model 

10 Version 6.2; 

11 (II) validated by reasonable 

12 standards for conducting field obser13 vations of model results; and 

14 (III) accepted and validated by 

15 the Federal Interagency Committee 

16 on Aviation Noise. 

17 (B) SOUND FROM OTHER SOURCES.—The 

18 Secretary shall not consider sound produced by 

19 sources other than commercial air tour oper20 ations, including sound emitted by other types 

21 of aircraft operations or other noise sources, for 

22 purposes of— 

23 (i) making recommendations, devel24 oping a final plan, or issuing regulations 


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1 relating to commercial air tour operations 

2 in the Park; or 

3 (ii) determining under paragraph (1) 

4 whether substantial restoration of the nat5 ural quiet and experience of the Park has 

6 been achieved. 

7 (3) CONTINUED MONITORING.—The Secretary 

8 shall continue monitoring noise from aircraft oper9 ating over the Park below 17,999 feet MSL to en10 sure continued compliance with the substantial res11 toration of natural quiet and experience in the Park. 

12 (4) DAY DEFINED.—For purposes of this sub13 section, the term ‘‘day’’ means the hours between 

14 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. 

Æ 


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