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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grand Canyon Tour-
ism Jobs Protection Act of 2012’’. 
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SEC. 2. OVERFLIGHTS IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK. 
(a) DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO SUBSTAN-
TIAL RESTORATION OF NATURAL QUIET AND EXPERI-
ENCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, for purposes of section 3(b)(1) of 
Public Law 100–91 (16 U.S.C. 1a–1 note), the sub-
stantial restoration of the natural quiet and experi-
ence of the Grand Canyon National Park (in this 
subsection referred to as the ‘‘Park’’) shall be con-
sidered to be achieved in the Park if, for at least 75 
percent of each day, 50 percent of the Park is free 
of sound produced by commercial air tour operations 
that have an allocation to conduct commercial air 
tours in the Park as of the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
(2) CONSIDERATIONS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter-
mining whether substantial restoration of the 
natural quiet and experience of the Park has 
been achieved in accordance with paragraph 
(1), the Secretary of the Interior (in this sec-
tion referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall use— 
(i) the 2-zone system for the Park in 
effect on the date of the enactment of this 
Act to assess impacts relating to subsec-
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tional restoration of natural quiet at the 
Park, including— 
(I) 
the 
thresholds 
for 
noticeability and audibility; and 
(II) the distribution of land be-
tween the 2 zones; and 
(ii) noise modeling science that is— 
(I) developed for use at the Park, 
specifically Integrated Noise Model 
Version 6.2; 
(II) 
validated 
by 
reasonable 
standards for conducting field obser-
vations of model results; and 
(III) accepted and validated by 
the Federal Interagency Committee 
on Aviation Noise. 
(B) SOUND FROM OTHER SOURCES.—The 
Secretary shall not consider sound produced by 
sources other than commercial air tour oper-
ations, including sound emitted by other types 
of aircraft operations or other noise sources, for 
purposes of— 
(i) making recommendations, devel-
oping a final plan, or issuing regulations 
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relating to commercial air tour operations 
in the Park; or 
(ii) determining under paragraph (1) 
whether substantial restoration of the nat-
ural quiet and experience of the Park has 
been achieved. 
(3) CONTINUED MONITORING.—The Secretary 
shall continue monitoring noise from aircraft oper-
ating over the Park below 17,999 feet MSL to en-
sure continued compliance with the substantial res-
toration of natural quiet and experience in the Park. 
(4) DAY DEFINED.—For purposes of this sub-
section, the term ‘‘day’’ means the hours between 
7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. 
Æ 
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