Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Public hearings in Las Vegas on a plan to bring quiet to the Grand Canyon probably will get noisy when environmentalists and air-tour operators face off Thursday and Friday.
The hearings on proposed new flight rules over the Grand Canyon are set for 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. each day at Cashman Field Center, Rooms 107-108.
The Federal Aviation Administration hearings come at the tail end of a 60-day public comment period that began when the noise-reduction proposal was formally announced in July.
Ironically, President Clinton, who ordered the rules to be revised in an executive order issued on Earth Day this year, was to fly to the Grand Canyon today to announce the establishment of a new national monument in southern Utah.
Air Force One, Air Force Two with Vice President Al Gore aboard and an entourage of journalists aboard a Boeing 757 were to land at the Grand Canyon, closing the airport and disrupting air-tour schedules for the day.
If the testimony gathered at hearings in Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this week is any indication, there could be a few surprises in store even though the noise issue has been debated for months.
At the Scottsdale meeting, the panel heard testimony that some air-tour operators were not paying a $25-per-flight fee required since 1993 of all operators. The allegations were first reported by the Arizona Republic. While some operators contend the government does not have the authority to collect the fee, shoddy bookkeeping also has received some of the blame for the fee shortfall.
Industry officials say more than half the air-tour operators cited as delinquent either are no longer in operation or fly the routes only when all flights are booked and are contracted by an established carrier responsible for the fee.
At the heart of the noise issue is whether additional restrictions should be imposed on planes flying over and around one of the nation's most popular national parks and whether the level of noise generated by planes hinders the average visitor's experience.
Citing its responsibility to protect park resources, including the natural solitude of the Grand Canyon, the National Park Service has pushed for limits on flights over specific locations within the park. The Park Service hopes to expand flight-free zones over park land, place caps on the number of flights and impose times when flights are banned.
Representatives of the air-tour industry counter that steps already have been taken to make the canyon quieter. Industry officials have worked internally to develop flight patterns that would have the least impact on places frequented by park visitors. Minimum flight altitudes have been established and tour operators cite the Park Service's own surveys that say most visitors' canyon experience is not spoiled by aircraft noise.
The Park Service contends that no action on the proposal ultimately turns into a loss for the park, that continued growth of the air-tour industry would erode natural quiet by 2 percent each year until only 10 percent of the park would experience quiet by the year 2010.
Air-tour industry officials, represented by the Las Vegas-based Grand Canyon Air Tour Council, consider themselves better ecological citizens than most hikers, leaving no visible trace of visitation and giving time-pressed tourists a chance to see the natural wonder.
The industry contends it's unfair for park officials to seek increasingly stringent noise guidelines and say the noise issue is politically motivated by an environmental lobby supporting President Clinton's re-election bid.
Backers of the noise restrictions admit the proposed rule is what they hope is only the first step toward banning flights over the canyon. They ultimately hope to rid the skies over the canyon of all commercial and military flights, a plan the air-tour industry argues would be disastrous for national commerce.
About 800,000 people fly over the canyon each year, many on flights that originate in Las Vegas. During the summer, about 10,000 visitors a day take sightseeing flights to get a bird's-eye view of the canyon. About 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year.
The Arizona Department of Transportation, which operates Grand Canyon Airport, said there were more than 95,000 flights into and out of the airport in the fiscal year that ended in June.
The FAA hopes to finish gathering comments on the overflight issue by Sept. 30, but it is unclear when a final decision will be reached on the proposed rules.
SUN REPORTERS Ed Koch and Mary Manning and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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