65958 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 210 / Tuesday, November 1, 2005 / Notices 

Internet at http://www.ssa.gov/work/ 

panel or can be received, in advance, 

electronically or by fax upon request. 

Contact Information: Records are kept 

of all proceedings and will be available 

for public inspection by appointment at 

the Panel office. Anyone requiring 

information regarding the Panel should 

contact the staff by: 

• Mail addressed to the Social 

Security Administration, Ticket to Work 

and Work Incentives Advisory Panel 

Staff, 400 Virginia Avenue, SW., Suite 

700, Washington, DC 20024. 

• Telephone contact with Debra 

Tidwell-Peters at (202) 358–6430. 

• Fax at (202) 358–6440 or 

• E-mail to TWWIIAPanel@ssa.gov. 

Dated: October 27, 2005. 

Chris Silanskis, 

Designated Federal Officer. 

[FR Doc. 05–21818 Filed 10–31–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4191–02–P 

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY 

Final Environmental Impact 

Statement—500-kV Transmission Line 

in Middle Tennessee 

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority 

(TVA). 

ACTION: Issuance of Record of Decision. 

SUMMARY: This notice is provided in 

accordance with the Council on 

Environmental Quality’s regulations (40 

CFR parts 1500 to 1508) and TVA’s 

procedures implementing the National 

Environmental Policy Act. TVA has 

decided to implement the preferred 

alternative identified in its Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), 

500-kV Transmission Line in Middle 

Tennessee. 

In implementing Alternative 1, TVA 

has decided to construct and operate the 

new 500-kV transmission line between 

Cumberland Fossil Plant in Stewart 

County, Tennessee, and TVA’s 

Montgomery 500-kV Substation in 

Montgomery County, Tennessee. The 

38.5-mile transmission line would be 

constructed within Corridor B and on 

the Cumberland River South and 

Industrial Park Central alternative 

alignments described in the Final EIS. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Charles P. Nicholson, Senior NEPA 

Specialist, Environmental Policy and 

Planning, Tennessee Valley Authority, 

400 West Summit Hill Drive WT 9B, 

Knoxville, Tennessee 37902–1401; 

telephone (865) 632–3582 or e-mail 

cpnicholson@tva.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: TVA owns 

and operates a system of transmission 

lines that move electricity throughout 

the TVA service area, which comprises 

most of Tennessee and portions of six 

adjacent States, and to adjacent utilities. 

Electric loads on portions of this system 

in the Middle Tennessee area have 

grown steadily in the recent past and are 

projected to continue to grow. This load 

growth will soon exceed the capability 

of high-capacity transmission lines 

serving this area. In addition, the loss of 

two or more of these lines could result 

in the loss of service over a wide area 

and possible damage to generating 

equipment in at least two locations. 

Therefore, TVA needs to increase 

transmission capacity in this area. 

TVA published a Notice of Intent to 

prepare this EIS in the Federal Register 

on November 27, 2001. Two public 

scoping meetings were held in 

December 2001 and attended by about 

50 people. Written scoping comments 

were received from two Federal 

agencies, two State agencies, and several 

individuals. The Notice of Availability 

of the Draft EIS was published in the 

Federal Register on April 18, 2003. TVA 

held two public meetings on the Draft 

EIS in May 2003 and accepted 

comments through early July. During 

this period, TVA also accepted 

comments received during a series of 

eight open houses held in June 2003 to 

review potential transmission line 

routes. Comments on the Draft EIS were 

received from about 200 individuals and 

several State and Federal agencies. TVA 

also received petitions signed by about 

400 individuals expressing opposition 

to various potential transmission line 

routes. The Notice of Availability for the 

Final EIS was published in the Federal 

Register on July 22, 2005. Although not 

required, TVA provided 30 days for 

comments on the Final EIS. Appendix I 

of the Final EIS contains summaries of 

and responses to the comments TVA 

received on the Draft EIS. 

Alternatives Considered 

TVA uses a detailed, comprehensive 

siting process when it plans its 

transmission line projects. This is an 

iterative process that takes into account 

important environmental and cultural 

resource features that become 

constraints on locating proposed lines. 

Broad study corridors are initially 

defined and potential line routes are 

subsequently located within the study 

corridors. Because transmission line 

right-of-ways (ROWs) are much 

narrower than the study corridors, 

important features that are associated 

with specific corridors can often be 

avoided when final line routes are 

selected. It is at this point that potential 

environmental impacts are more fully 

identifiable. 

TVA identified three alternatives in 

the EIS. 

Under Alternative 1—CumberlandMontgomery Study Area, TVA would 

construct and operate a 500-kV 

transmission line from Cumberland 

Fossil Plant to the Montgomery 500-kV 

Substation. A new bay and additional 

500-kV breakers would be installed at 

the Montgomery Substation. Four broad 

alternative corridors for this 

transmission line were analyzed in the 

EIS. Two of these corridors, the 37-mile 

Corridor B around the south and west 

side of the city of Clarksville and the 32- 

mile Corridor D around the north of 

Clarksville, were identified as identified 

in the Draft EIS as preferred by TVA. 

Following the release of the Draft EIS 

and the subsequent public meetings and 

open houses, TVA identified proposed 

transmission line routes within 

Corridors B and D. Alternative 

alignments were developed for some 

segments of both the Corridor B and D 

routes. Depending on the alternative 

alignments being considered, the 

Corridor B route is between 38.1 and 

38.9 miles long, and the Corridor D 

route is between 31.8 and 37.7 miles 

long. 

Under Alternative 2—CumberlandDavidson Study Area, TVA would 

construct and operate a 500-kV 

transmission line from Cumberland 

Fossil Plant to TVA’s Davidson 500-kV 

Substation in Davidson County, 

Tennessee. A new bay containing a 500- 

kV breaker would be installed at the 

Davidson Substation. Two broad 

alternative corridors about 50 and 51 

miles long were analyzed in the EIS. 

Under Alternative 3—No Action, TVA 

would not construct the proposed 

transmission line. This would result in 

the risk of loss of electric service in a 

portion of Middle Tennessee with a 

total load of over 4,000 megawatts. 

There would also be risk of loss of 

system stability and resultant damage to 

generators at TVA’s Cumberland and 

Paradise generating plants. In order to 

minimize the risk of instability, 

generation would have to be reduced at 

these plants during some system 

conditions, further exacerbating the risk 

to service in Middle Tennessee. 

The construction and operation of the 

proposed transmission line would be 

similar under Alternatives 1 and 2. The 

transmission line would use selfsupporting galvanized, laced steel 

structures about 85 to 125 feet tall. The 

average distance between structures 

would be about 1,000 feet. The electrical 

conductors would consist of three sets 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 210 / Tuesday, November 1, 2005 / Notices 65959 

of three cables suspended beneath the 

structure cross-arms by insulators. 

The transmission line would be built 

on a ROW 175 feet in width. TVA 

would purchase easements from 

landowners for the new ROW. Because 

of the need to maintain adequate 

clearance between tall vegetation and 

the transmission line conductors, as 

well as to provide access for 

construction equipment, most trees and 

shrubs would initially be removed from 

the entire width of the ROW. Trees 

outside of the ROW which are tall 

enough to pass within 10 feet of a 

conductor if they fell towards the line 

would also be removed. Following line 

construction, the ROW would be 

revegetated with low-growing plants. 

The ROW can be used by the landowner 

for many purposes that do not interfere 

with the maintenance and operation of 

the line. TVA would periodically 

inspect and conduct maintenance 

activities on the completed line. The 

major maintenance activity is vegetation 

management, conducted to maintain 

adequate clearance around the 

conductors. This would consist of both 

felling tall trees adjacent to the ROW 

and control of vegetation within the 

ROW. Management of vegetation within 

the ROW would use an integrated 

vegetation management approach based 

primarily on mechanical mowing and 

herbicide application. 

Under both action alternatives, TVA 

would also construct a new bay 

containing a 500-kV breaker at 

Cumberland Fossil Plant. Depending on 

the transmission line route selected, an 

additional length of new bus work 

would be needed inside the plant 

switchyard to connect the new bay to a 

line pull-off structure. 

TVA identified the Alternative 1 as 

the preferred alternative in the Draft 

EIS. In the Final EIS, TVA identified the 

Corridor B Route in the Alternative 1 

Cumberland-Montgomery Study Area, 

with the Cumberland River South and 

Industrial Park Central alternative 

alignments, as preferred. 

Comments on the Final EIS 

TVA received comments on the Final 

EIS from six State and Federal 

Government agencies and from two 

individuals. 

Some commenters stated that TVA 

did not adequately consider all viable 

alternatives to constructing a new 500- 

kV transmission line, including 

upgrading existing 161-kV transmission 

lines to 500-kV capacity. TVA evaluated 

four corridors for the CumberlandMontgomery alternative. Corridor C, as 

described in Section 2.2.2.1.3 of the 

FEIS, offered the potential for using the 

right-of-ways of several existing 161-kV 

transmission lines and interconnecting 

pieces of new right-of-way. This 

corridor was not preferred, and 

subsequently not evaluated in detail in 

the FEIS, because of its relatively high 

land use impacts and because of 

engineering considerations. One of these 

considerations was the need to 

deenergize and dismantle 161-kV lines 

18 to 24 months prior to the scheduled 

line completion date. This extended line 

outage would have presented an 

unacceptable risk to area electrical 

service. Another consideration was that 

the 161-kV transmission line segments 

have right-of-ways that are 100 feet wide 

and to accommodate both the 500-kV 

and 161-kV lines, these right-of-ways 

would have to be expanded to at least 

175 feet wide. Numerous houses and 

commercial buildings occur along these 

161-kV right-of-ways, and the number 

that would have to be purchased and 

demolished would be considerably 

greater than for either the Corridor B or 

Corridor D routes. These considerations 

would also apply to other potential 

routes involving upgrading existing 161- 

kV transmission lines to 500-kV 

capacity. 

The Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) requested more discussion of the 

suitability of other types of utility 

rights-of-ways for co-location of a 

transmission line. Using non-electric 

rights of way to route transmission lines 

is often unsafe and avoided for that 

reason. A transmission line can cause 

induced currents in natural gas and 

petroleum pipelines, resulting in 

increased corrosion. While this can be 

addressed by retrofitting the pipeline, to 

do so is expensive. Conductor to ground 

faults from the transmission line are 

also a potential hazard to pipelines. 

TVA typically does not site 

transmission lines parallel to and within 

railroad rights-of-ways because of 

interference with railroad 

communication systems. The need to 

maintain electrical clearance to allow 

safe train passage also requires that the 

transmission line be some distance from 

the railroad, resulting in minimal 

overlap of right-of-ways and little 

savings in the required land area. 

The EPA noted that the preferred 

route and alignments identified in the 

FEIS would have greater impacts on 

wetlands than several other route/ 

alignment combinations analyzed in 

detail, and asked for more explanation 

of the basis for the selection. This is 

given below in the ‘‘Decision’’ section. 

The EPA also questioned how this 

mitigation ratio relates to permitting 

requirement and noted that the 

proposed 1:1 mitigation ratio for 

impacts to high quality wetlands is 

likely inadequate. 

TVA has not yet submitted a Clean 

Water Act Section 404 permit 

application to the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (COE). Based on the types of 

wetlands impacts that would occur 

(primarily conversion of forested 

wetlands to scrub-shrub and emergent 

wetlands, and small areas of fill for 

transmission structure foundations and 

access roads), the project will likely 

qualify for Section 404 Nationwide 

Permit 12—Utility Line Activities. It has 

been TVA’s experience that the 

Nashville District COE typically does 

not require any compensatory wetlands 

mitigation in this kind of situation. The 

proposed 1:1 mitigation for impacts to 

3.8 acres of high quality forested 

wetlands is amount that TVA believes is 

appropriate, and if COE requires 

additional mitigation as part of its 

approval, TVA would comply with this 

requirement. 

The preferred route would affect a 

total of 23.2 acres of wetlands. The 

majority of this wetland area, 17.0 acres, 

is comprised of non-forested wetland 

types where the level of impacts would 

be low and wetland functionality would 

not be materially affected. Impacts to 

the affected 6.2 acres of forested 

wetlands would be different because of 

the long-term conversion of these 

wetlands to non-forested wetland types. 

While all wetlands share many 

important functions, forested wetlands 

have additional functions and attributes. 

As explained in the FEIS, 2.4 acres of 

these forested wetlands were classified 

as moderate quality (Category 2) and 3.8 

acres were classified as high quality 

(Category 3). The potential for impacts 

is greatest for these high quality 

wetlands, and thus they are the focus of 

TVA’s mitigation efforts. The 1:1 

mitigation ratio would offset the overall 

loss of forested wetland functions that 

would result from the conversion from 

forested to non-forested wetland types 

and is consistent with the 1990 

Memorandum of Agreement between 

EPA and COE on determining mitigation 

under Section 404 guidelines. 

The EPA requested additional 

discussion on the application of the 

300/1200 foot buffers to reduce 

exposure to electric and magnetic field 

(EMF) buffers from transmission lines 

paralleling highways. During the line 

routing process, TVA establishes 300- 

foot buffers around occupied buildings 

other than schools and 1200-foot buffers 

around schools. TVA does not establish 

buffers along highways, although in 

practice stretches of highways are 

buffered from the transmission line due 

65960 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 210 / Tuesday, November 1, 2005 / Notices 

to the buffers around buildings adjacent 

to highways. 

The EPA requested clarification of the 

environmental justice information. TVA 

considers potential environmental 

justice effects as a matter of policy. FEIS 

Figure 4–1 shows the percent nonwhite 

population by census block group for 

the Cumberland-Montgomery study area 

and Table 4–5 lists the actual 

percentages for the census tracts along 

the Corridor B and Corridor D routes. 

The individual census tracts were not 

mapped because their small size would 

make interpretation of the map difficult. 

All of the census block groups with 

nonwhite populations greater than 25 

percent are in Montgomery County in 

the immediate vicinity of Clarksville or 

north of U.S. Highway 79. Nonwhites 

comprise 4.7, 26.8, and 19.8 percent of 

the populations of Stewart County, 

Montgomery County, and Tennessee, 

respectively. None of the census blocks 

along the Corridor B route in 

Montgomery County have nonwhite 

populations that exceed county-wide or 

state proportions. The nonwhite 

population for the one Corridor B 

census block in Stewart County is 6.9 

percent, higher than the county average 

and much lower than the state average. 

The proportions of the population 

below poverty level in Stewart County, 

Montgomery County, and Tennessee are 

12.4, 10.0, and 13.5 percent, 

respectively. None of the census tracts 

along the Corridor B route (listed in 

FEIS Table 4–5) have poverty rates 

significantly greater than the state rate 

and three tracts slightly exceed the local 

county rates. Because of the low 

potential for disproportionate impacts to 

disadvantaged populations that would 

result from selection of the Corridor B 

route, TVA has determined that 

measures to mitigate environmental 

justice impacts are not necessary. 

Decision 

TVA has decided to implement the 

preferred alternative identified in the 

Final EIS, Alternative 1 with the 

Corridor B route and Cumberland River 

South and Industrial Park Central 

alternative alignments. 

Alternative 1—CumberlandMontgomery Study Area was selected 

over Alternative 2—CumberlandDavidson Study Area because of the 

shorter line length, lower level of 

impacts to several natural resources, 

and lower cost. Within the Alternative 

1 study area, Corridors B and D were 

selected as the preferred corridors in the 

Draft EIS based on a combination of 

engineering attributes, natural and 

cultural features, and land use 

attributes. Among other attributes, these 

two corridors were the shortest and 

contained the smallest area of forest. 

The Final EIS contains a detailed 

comparison of proposed line routes in 

Alternative 1—Cumberland 

Montgomery Study Area Corridors B 

and D. 

The selection of the Alternative 1 

Cumberland-Montgomery Study Area 

Corridor B Route over the Corridor D 

route was based on several factors. 

While shorter and with less impacts on 

wetlands and less forest fragmentation, 

the Corridor D Route would require the 

relocation of more residences and have 

a greater impact on planned residential 

and commercial development. A portion 

of it would have been located on or very 

close to Fort Campbell Military Base, 

potentially interfering with aircraft 

operations. It would also have affected 

the Ringgold Mill Complex historic site. 

The Cumberland River South 

alternative alignment of the Corridor B 

Route was selected over the Cumberland 

River North alignment in order to avoid 

ongoing residential development and 

land suitable for future development. 

The selected alignment also avoids an 

agricultural area with extensive 

underground drainage that the 

Cumberland River North alignment 

would have crossed. 

At the eastern end of the Corridor B 

Route, the Industrial Park Central 

alternative alignment was selected over 

the Industrial Park East and Industrial 

Park West alignments because of its 

shorter length and reduced amount of 

right-of-way to be acquired. The 

Industrial Park Central alignment also 

runs parallel to and shares part of the 

right-of-way of an existing 500-kV 

transmission line, further reducing the 

amount of new right-of-way to be 

acquired and land use impacts. 

In reaching this decision, TVA has 

carefully considered the comments and 

concerns voiced by the public. Based on 

the comments TVA received during the 

scoping and EIS review processes, the 

effects on landowners from having the 

transmission line built on or near their 

property was a major concern. TVA has 

attempted to minimize these impacts 

during the transmission line siting 

process, and the selected route affects 

slightly fewer landowners than the 

Corridor D Route. It also would require 

fewer residential relocations and have 

fewer buildings within 300 feet of the 

line. Commenters also expressed 

concerns about impacts to cultural and 

natural resources. The selected Corridor 

B Route would have less impact on 

cultural resources than the Corridor D 

Route, and the Tennessee State Historic 

Preservation Officer has concurred with 

TVA’s determination that the Corridor B 

Route would not adversely affect any 

archaeological or historic sites eligible 

for or listed in the National Register of 

Historic Places. The U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service has concurred with 

TVA’s determination that the Corridor B 

Route would not adversely affect 

species listed under the Endangered 

Species Act. 

Environmentally Preferred Alternative 

Alternative 3—No Action is the 

environmentally preferred alternative 

because the impacts associated with 

constructing and operating a high 

voltage transmission line would not 

occur. This alternative, however, would 

result in the risk of the loss of electrical 

service to a large area of Middle 

Tennessee with a total load of over 4000 

megawatts and is considered 

unreasonable. The loss of this electrical 

service would result in social and 

economic impacts. 

Of the two action alternatives, 

Alternative 1—CumberlandMontgomery Study Area is 

environmentally preferred over 

Alternative 2—Cumberland-Davidson 

Study Area. Potential transmission line 

routes in the Alternative 1 study area 

average about 20 percent shorter than 

those in the Alternative 2 study area and 

would require the purchase of less rightof-way and have less impact to forests, 

wildlife populations, and streams. 

Neither of the two Alternative 1—

Cumberland-Montgomery Study Area 

transmission line routes studied in 

further detail, the Corridor B route and 

the Corridor D route, is clearly 

environmentally preferable over the 

other. Of the various alternative 

alignments for the selected Corridor B 

route, the Cumberland River North 

alignment is environmentally preferable 

over the selected Cumberland River 

South alignment because of less impact 

on wetlands, ecologically significant 

sites, and forested stream crossings. 

None of the Industrial Park alternative 

alignments are clearly environmentally 

preferable over the others. 

Environmental Commitments 

For the reasons discussed in the Final 

EIS and summarized here, TVA is 

committing to the following measures to 

avoid, reduce, or mitigate the potential 

environmental impacts associated with 

these actions: 

• In order to reduce potential impacts 

to groundwater, TVA will not apply 

herbicides aerially along the ROW 

between a point about 0.4 miles 

northeast of Highway 12 (at 

transmission line structure 136) and the 

Montgomery 500-kV Substation. The 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 210 / Tuesday, November 1, 2005 / Notices 65961 

use of fertilizers will also be avoided or 

minimized in this area. 

• In order to reduce the impacts to 

wetlands, TVA will provide 

compensatory mitigation for 3.8 acres of 

high quality forested wetlands at a 1:1 

ratio. Compensatory mitigation 

measures include, but are not limited to, 

the purchase of credits in an existing 

mitigation bank within the hydrologic 

unit for the project area or an adjacent 

hydrologic unit, and restoration of 

forested wetlands in or adjacent to the 

project area hydrologic unit by TVA or 

through an in-lieu-fee agreement with a 

state agency or private conservation 

organization. A higher mitigation ratio 

will be used if required by the Section 

404 permit issued by the Corps of 

Engineers. 

• No invasive plant species will be 

planted on the new ROW. 

Dated: October 20, 2005 

W. David Hall, 

Vice President, Electric System Projects. 

[FR Doc. 05–21696 Filed 10–31–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8120–08–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Environmental Finding 

Document: Finding of No Significant 

Impact; Notice. 

SUMMARY: On May 23, 2005, the FAA 

Office of Commercial Space 

Transportation (AST) received an 

application for a launch license from 

Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. 

(SpaceX) to conduct launches of its 

Falcon 1 launch vehicle from Omelek 

Island, U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/ 

Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test 

Site (USAKA/RTS). The FAA 

participated as a cooperating agency 

with the U.S. Army Space and Missile 

Defense Command (USASMDC) in 

preparation of the Environmental 

Assessment (EA) for the Proof-ofPrinciple Space Launches from Omelek 

Island (February 2005). The EA 

analyzed the environmental 

consequences of conducting two proofof-principle launches of the Falcon 1 

Launch Vehicle from Omelek Island, 

USAKA/RTS. From its independent 

review and consideration, the FAA has 

determined that the FAA’s proposed 

action is substantially the same as the 

actions already analyzed in the 

USASMDC EA and that FAA’s 

comments and suggestions have been 

satisfied (see 1506.3(c) and FAA Order 

1050.1E, 518h). The FAA formally 

adopts the EA and hereby incorporates 

the analysis to support its decision on 

this license application. 

After reviewing and analyzing 

currently available data and information 

on existing conditions, project impacts, 

and measures to mitigate those impacts, 

the FAA has determined that licensing 

the proposed launch activities is not a 

Federal action that would significantly 

affect the quality of the human 

environment within the meaning of the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA). Therefore, the preparation of an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

is not required and the FAA is issuing 

a Finding of No Significant Impact 

(FONSI). The FAA made this 

determination in accordance with all 

applicable environmental laws. 

FOR A COPY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL

ASSESSMENT OR THE FONSI CONTACT: A 

copy of the EA is available at: http:// 

www.smdcen.us/pubdocs/files/spacex_ 

final_ea_ signed_fnsi_ 13dec04.pdf. 

Questions or comments should be 

directed to Ms. Stacey Zee; FAA 

Environmental Specialist; Federal 

Aviation Administration; 800 

Independence Ave., SW.; AST–100, 

Suite 331; Washington, DC 20591; (202) 

267–9305. 

Background 

Launches of launch vehicles, such as 

SpaceX’s proposed launches of the 

Falcon 1 launch vehicle from Omelek 

Island, must be licensed by the FAA 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Sections 70101–

70121, the Commercial Space Launch 

Act. Licensing the launch of a launch 

vehicle is a Federal action requiring 

environmental analysis by the FAA in 

accordance with NEPA, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 

4321 et seq. Upon receipt of a complete 

license application, the FAA must 

decide whether to issue a launch license 

to SpaceX for launching the Falcon 1 

launch vehicle from Omelek Island, 

USAKA/RTS. An environmental 

determination is required for the 

evaluation of a license application. The 

FAA is using the analyses in the 

USASMDC EA as the basis for the 

environmental determination of the 

impacts to support licensing the Falcon 

launch vehicle from Omelek Island. 

Proposed Action 

SpaceX is proposing to launch the 

Falcon 1 launch vehicle from Omelek 

Island, USAKA/RTS. The Falcon is a 

small, unmanned, two-stage launch 

vehicle designed to put small payloads 

into orbit. It uses liquid oxygen (LOX) 

and kerosene as propellants. The first 

stage, which is reusable, uses a 

parachute and would be recovered. The 

second stage is not reusable and is not 

intended to be recovered. 

The issuance of a FONSI does not 

guarantee that a license will be issued 

by the FAA for the launch of the Falcon 

1 launch vehicle. However, if a license 

is issued, SpaceX would be authorized 

to launch the Falcon 1 launch vehicle 

carrying a Razaksat Satellite built by 

ATSB. The Razaksat Satellite (formerly 

known as MACSAT) is an Earth 

observation spacecraft containing a 

medium aperture camera. It would be 

launched on a 90-degree azimuth to an 

orbit of 685 kilometers (426 miles). 

The USASMDC EA considered four 

alternative site locations for the 

facilities to be constructed at Omelek 

Island. These alternatives are no longer 

under consideration because a final 

launch site has been selected. Under the 

No Action Alternative, the Falcon 1 

launch vehicle would not be launched 

from Omelek Island. 

Environmental Impacts 

The following presents a brief 

summary of the environmental impacts 

considered in the USASMDC EA. The 

USASMDC EA is incorporated by 

reference in this FONSI and the FAA’s 

FONSI is based upon the impacts 

discussed in that EA. Land Use, 

socioeconomics, environmental justice, 

and aesthetics were not discussed in the 

USASMDC EA. Based on the original 

analysis, it was determined that there 

would be no significant impacts to land 

use or aesthetics because Omelek Island 

would remain under U.S. Army 

management and would continue to be 

used for missile research. There would 

be no impacts to socioeconomics or 

environmental justice, because except 

for base personnel, the island is 

uninhabited. The project would only 

require a few existing base personnel 

and 20 SpaceX personnel and would not 

cause any impact to off base or lowincome populations. 

Air Quality: Falcon launches would 

have only a localized, minimal impact 

on air quality. Long-term effects are not 

expected because the launches would be 

infrequent and the resulting emissions 

would be rapidly dispersed and diluted 

by trade winds. Regional air quality and 

ambient air quality standards would not 

be impacted by launches of the Falcon 

1 vehicle. 

Airspace: USAKA/RTS is located 

under international airspace and 

therefore, has no formal airspace 

restrictions governing it. However, the 

Omelek launch site is approximately 35 

kilometers (22 miles) north of Bucholz 

Army Airfield and Falcon launches