51498 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 164 / Tuesday, August 25, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

804–7766; Internet: http://www.elbitsystemsus.com; email: MetroTech@

M7Aerospace.com. You may view this 

referenced service information at the FAA, 

Small Airplane Directorate, 901 Locust, 

Kansas City, Missouri 64106. For information 

on the availability of this material at the 

FAA, call 816–329–4148. 

Issued in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 

19, 2015. 

Earl Lawrence, 

Manager, Small Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–20977 Filed 8–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 73 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–0739; Airspace 

Docket No. 14–AWP–11] 

RIN 2120–AA66 

Proposed Modification of Restricted 

Area R–7201; Farallon De Medinilla 

Island; Mariana Islands, GU 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: This action proposes to 

expand the lateral boundary of 

restricted area R–7201, Farallon De 

Medinilla Island, Mariana Islands, GU. 

The expanded restricted airspace would 

be used to support strategic and attack 

bombing, close air support bombing, 

naval gunfire, and strafing and special 

operations training. This action also 

proposes to rename the restricted area 

from R–7201 to R–7201A. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before October 9, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments on this 

proposal to the U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001; telephone: 

(202) 366–9826. You must identify FAA 

Docket No. FAA–2015–0739 and 

Airspace Docket No. 14–AWP–11, at the 

beginning of your comments. You may 

also submit comments through the 

Internet at www.regulations.gov. 

Comments on environmental and land 

use aspects should be directed to: Naval 

Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, 

Attention: MIRC Airspace EA/OEA 

Project Manager, 258 Makalapa Drive, 

Suite 100, Pearl Harbor, HI 96860–3134. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jason Stahl, Airspace Policy and 

Regulations Group, Office of Airspace 

Services, Federal Aviation 

Administration, 800 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591; 

telephone: (202) 267–8783. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority for This Rulemaking 

The FAA’s authority to issue rules 

regarding aviation safety is found in 

Title 49 of the United States Code. 

Subtitle I, Section 106 describes the 

authority of the FAA Administrator. 

Subtitle VII, Aviation Programs, 

describes in more detail the scope of the 

agency’s authority. This rulemaking is 

promulgated under the authority 

described in Subtitle VII, Part A, 

Subpart I, Section 40103. Under that 

section, the FAA is charged with 

prescribing regulations to assign the use 

of the airspace necessary to ensure the 

safety of aircraft and the efficient use of 

airspace. This regulation is within the 

scope of that authority as it would 

modify the restricted area airspace at 

Farallon De Medinilla Island, Mariana 

Islands, GU, to enhance aviation safety 

and accommodate essential U.S. Navy 

training requirements. 

Background 

The Department of the Navy is 

seeking to expand R–7201 out from its 

current 3-nautical mile (NM) radius to a 

12-NM radius. The proposed action is 

needed in order to support training 

activities that involve the use of 

advanced weapons systems which the 

current airspace does not sufficiently 

and safely provide. The Navy and other 

services require fully capable training 

and testing range complexes (land, sea, 

and airspace) that provide realistic and 

controlled environments with sufficient 

surface Danger Zones (DZs) and Special 

Use Airspace vital for safety and 

mission success. 

Farrallon de Medinilla (FDM) consists 

of the island land mass and the 

restricted airspace designated R–7201. 

The land mass is approximately 1.7 

miles long and 0.3 miles wide. It 

contains a live-fire and inert bombing 

range and supports live-fire and inert 

engagements such as surface-to-ground 

and air-to-ground gunnery, bombing and 

missile exercises, fire support, and 

precision weapons. Restricted Area R– 

7201 surrounds FDM and the 

surrounding waters within a 3-NM 

radius from center extending from the 

surface to Flight Level (FL) 600. FDM 

and R–7201 are the Department of 

Defense’s (DOD) only United States 

controlled range in the western Pacific 

available to forward-deployed forces for 

live-fire and inert training. For this 

reason, it plays a unique role in national 

defense. R–7201’s location is ideal for 

access and availability and its relative 

isolation facilitates a variety of attack 

profiles. 

Due to Guam and the Commonwealth 

of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) 

strategic location and DOD’s ongoing 

reassessment of the Western Pacific 

military alignment, there has been a 

dramatic increase in the importance of 

the Mariana Islands Range Complex 

(MIRC) as a training venue and its 

capabilities to support required military 

training. Flight training profiles, 

altitudes and speed are severely 

restricted to ensure containment due to 

the small size of the current restricted 

area. In order to fully exploit the 

capabilities of modern weapons systems 

and provide the required training 

scenarios that replicate conditions 

encountered during deployments today, 

it is necessary to expand R–7201 

laterally. This action would enable the 

military to continue to achieve and 

maintain service readiness using the 

MIRC to support and conduct current, 

emerging, and future training activities. 

The proposed R–7201 expansion would 

support naval gun fire training, 

readiness and the utilization of 

advanced lasers with Nominal Ocular 

Hazard Distance that exceed the current 

3 NM constraints of the existing 

airspace. Additionally, the expansion 

would serve to support the U.S. Air 

Force’s Intelligence, Surveillance and 

Reconnaissance (ISR)/Strike program. It 

is anticipated that a 45 percent increase 

in operations and training would occur 

within the expanded airspace and will 

accommodate an increased training 

tempo, newer aircraft and weapon 

systems that are commensurate with the 

ISR/Strike mission that the current 

airspace cannot support. 

The Navy has leased FDM from CNMI 

since 1971 and in 1983 negotiated a 50- 

year lease with an option to renew for 

another 50 years. No maneuver training 

is permitted on FDM and the nearshore 

waters are leased to the U.S. for military 

purposes, specifically for use as a live 

fire naval gunfire and air warfare air 

strike training range. As such, FDM and 

its nearshore area have always been an 

off-limits area to all personnel both 

civilian and military due to unexploded 

ordnance concerns. In addition to the 

proposed R–7201 expansion, the DZ 

around FDM would be expanded to 12 

NM to align with the proposed 

restricted airspace. The DZ would 

restrict all private and commercial 

vessels from entering the area only 

when hazardous activities are 

scheduled. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 164 / Tuesday, August 25, 2015 / Proposed Rules 51499 

Comments Invited 

Interested parties are invited to 

participate in this proposed rulemaking 

by submitting such written data, views, 

or arguments as they may desire. 

Comments that provide the factual basis 

supporting the views and suggestions 

presented are particularly helpful in 

developing reasoned regulatory 

decisions on the proposal. Comments 

are specifically invited on the overall 

regulatory, aeronautical, economic, 

environmental, and energy-related 

aspects of the proposal. 

Communications should identify both 

docket numbers (FAA Docket No. FAA– 

2014–0739 and Airspace Docket No. 14– 

AWP–11) and be submitted in triplicate 

to the Docket Management System (see 

ADDRESSES section for address and 

phone number). You may also submit 

comments through the Internet at 

www.regulations.gov. 

Commenters wishing the FAA to 

acknowledge receipt of their comments 

on this action must submit with those 

comments a self-addressed, stamped 

postcard on which the following 

statement is made: ‘‘Comments to FAA 

Docket No. FAA–2015–0739 and 

Airspace Docket No. 14–AWP–11.’’ The 

postcard will be date/time stamped and 

returned to the commenter. 

All communications received on or 

before the specified closing date for 

comments will be considered before 

taking action on the proposed rule. The 

proposal contained in this action may 

be changed in light of comments 

received. All comments submitted will 

be available for examination in the 

public docket both before and after the 

closing date for comments. A report 

summarizing each substantive public 

contact with FAA personnel concerned 

with this rulemaking will be filed in the 

docket. 

Availability of NPRMs 

An electronic copy of this document 

may be downloaded through the 

Internet at www.regulations.gov. 

You may review the public docket 

containing the proposal, any comments 

received and any final disposition in 

person at the Dockets Office (see 

ADDRESSES section for address and 

phone number) between 9:00 a.m. and 

5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. An informal 

docket may also be examined during 

normal business hours at the office of 

the Operations Support Group, Western 

Service Center, Federal Aviation 

Administration, 1601 Lind Ave. SW., 

Renton, WA 98057. 

Persons interested in being placed on 

a mailing list for future NPRMs should 

contact the FAA’s Office of Rulemaking, 

(202) 267–9677, for a copy of Advisory 

Circular No. 11–2A, Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking Distribution System, which 

describes the application procedure. 

The Proposal 

The FAA is proposing an amendment 

to 14 CFR part 73 to expand the lateral 

dimensions of restricted area R–7201, 

Farallon De Medinilla Island, Mariana 

Islands, GU and rename it R–7201A. 

The proposed R–7201A would be the 

minimum size required for containing 

stand-off weapons employment, naval 

gun fire training, and laser activities 

conducted there. The actual usage of the 

restricted area is estimated to be 4–5 

days per week, 3–6 hours per day with 

1,680 sorties per year. 

The proposed R–7201A boundary 

would extend the current boundary 

from 3 NM to 12 NM from latitude 

16°01′04′′ N., longitude 146°03′31′′ E. 

Regulatory Notices and Analyses 

The FAA has determined that this 

proposed regulation only involves an 

established body of technical 

regulations for which frequent and 

routine amendments are necessary to 

keep them operationally current. 

Therefore, this proposed regulation: (1) 

Is not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ 

under Executive Order 12866; (2) is not 

a ‘‘significant rule’’ under Department of 

Transportation (DOT) Regulatory 

Policies and Procedures (44 FR 11034; 

February 26, 1979); and (3) does not 

warrant preparation of a regulatory 

evaluation as the anticipated impact is 

so minimal. Since this is a routine 

matter that will only affect air traffic 

procedures and air navigation, it is 

certified that this proposed rule, when 

promulgated, will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities under the 

criteria of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

Environmental Review 

This proposal will be subjected to an 

environmental analysis in accordance 

with FAA Order 1050.1E, 

‘‘Environmental Impacts: Policies and 

Procedures,’’ prior to any FAA final 

regulatory action. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 73 

Airspace, Prohibited areas, Restricted 

areas. 

The Proposed Amendment 

In consideration of the foregoing, the 

Federal Aviation Administration 

proposes to amend 14 CFR part 73 as 

follows: 

PART 73—SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 73 is 

amended to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g); 40103, 

40113, 40120; E.O. 10854, 24 FR 9565, 3 CFR, 

1959–1963 Comp., p. 389. 

§ 73.72 Guam [Amended] 

■ 2. § 73.72 is amended as follows: 

R–7201 Farallon De Medinilla Island 

Mariana Islands, GU [Removed] 

R–7201A Farallon De Medinilla 

Island Mariana Islands, GU [New] 

Boundaries: Beginning at latitude 

16°01′04′′ N., longitude 146°03′31′′ E.; 

extending outward in a 12 NM radius. 

Altitudes: Surface up to and including 

FL 600. 

Times of Use: As scheduled by 

NOTAM 12 hours in advance. 

Controlling Agency: FAA, Guam 

Center/Radar Approach Control. 

Using Agency: Commander, Naval 

Forces, Marianas. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 19, 

2015. 

Gary A. Norek, 

Manager, Airspace Policy and Regulations 

Group. 

[FR Doc. 2015–21084 Filed 8–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R08–OAR–2014–0369; FRL–9932–90– 

Region 8] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; State of 

Utah; Revisions to the Utah Division of 

Administrative Rules, R307–300 

Series; Area Source Rules for 

Attainment of Fine Particulate Matter 

Standards 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing approval and 

conditional approval of portions of the 

fine particulate matter (PM2.5) State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) and other 

general rule revisions submitted by the 

State of Utah. The revisions affect the 

Utah Division of Administrative Rules 

(DAR), R307–300 Series; Requirements 

for Specific Locations; the revisions had 

submission dates of February 2, 2012, 

May 9, 2013, June 8, 2013, February 18, 

2014, April 17, 2014, May 20, 2014, July 

10, 2014, August 6, 2014, and December 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS