Tour operators, tribe pack LV hearing on Grand Canyon

David Strow

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 3:40 a.m.

For Gregg Rochna, flying tourists to the Grand Canyon is more than just a job -- it's a way of life.

The president of Las Vegas-based Maverick Helicopters has flown tours of the canyon since 1969, when he arrived back in the United States to recover from wounds suffered during his tour of duty as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

He founded his company two years ago and has invested $6 million in buildings, equipment and four helicopters -- the number of craft the Federal Aviation Administration told him he would be allowed to operate.

Now, the FAA has told Rochna he will only be allotted four flights a day, down from as many as 30 a day now.

"You're going to slaughter our company," a clearly angry but controlled Rochna told a panel of FAA administrators. "I cannot survive on one flight per aircraft per day. Gentlemen, you're putting me out of business."

Rochna's arguments were echoed repeatedly Thursday, as dozens of air tour operators, proponents and Arizona Native Americans gathered at UNLV to speak out at a public hearing to consider an FAA proposal that would cap air tour flights at 1997-98 levels. The FAA's proposal is an attempt to restore natural quiet to a majority of Grand Canyon National Park.

"The park's natural quiet has continued to erode as air tours have increased," said Robert Arnberger, superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. "We have a clear statutory mandate to preserve the park ... for this and future generations. This is a step in the right direction that gains us much."

By capping flights, the FAA believes the Grand Canyon will see an economic benefit of $17.7 million per year, as more visitors come to a quieter park.

But local officials and businessmen took issue with how the FAA is trying to define "natural quiet," and what kind of benefits restoring that quiet would provide.

Andrea Reitan, deputy chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, told the FAA that capping the air tour business could cost Southern Nevada $100 million in lost tourism dollars each year, since the canyon air tour is a huge magnet for international visitors.

The FAA defines natural quiet as 8 decibels below ambient sound levels. To demonstrate how low that was, a sound engineer brought in a sound meter and asked the room to be completely silent. The reading: 38 decibels. Eight decibels is 1,000 times softer than that level, said David Young, chief executive of Las Vegas-based Scenic Airlines.

Young also pointed out that 76 Grand Canyon visitors have complained about aircraft noise in the past two years, out of 9.8 million visitors. He also said that his company has invested $500,000 in each of its 19 aircraft to make them as quiet as possible.

"Noise from aircraft is not a problem and we challenge you to prove otherwise," Young said. "In fact, more people reported being abducted by UFO aliens in northern Arizona over the same period than people complaining about noise at the Grand Canyon."

Several argued that noise wasn't a problem at the park anymore. Complaints about aircraft noise dropped from 1,000 in 1988 to 36 last year. Air tour operators accused the FAA on acting on a sound issue that hadn't been studied scientifically.

"There is a word for what is going on here, ladies and gentlemen -- extremism," said John Sullivan, CEO of Sundance Helicopters. "The perpetrators of this should be ashamed of themselves.

"Let's not kid ourselves ... this is a cutback designed to cause significant financial damage to this industry. Wouldn't it be better to study this situation first, then act?"

Randy Walker, director of aviation for the Clark County Department of Aviation, was even more blunt.

"You're beginning this much needed research in September 1999, instead of before your rulemaking," Walker said. "You need to develop the science first and the regulations second.

"I hope the FAA doesn't use the same kind of science when you're doing security regulations, because if you are, God help us all."

In contrast to the FAA's meeting Tuesday in Flagstaff, which was attended by numerous conservationists, just one person showed up to speak out in favor of capping flights over the Canyon -- Jane Feldman of the Southern Nevada Sierra Club.

"Our intent is to stop the air raid on the Grand Canyon National Park," Feldman said, saying that air flights over the park are up 240 percent in the past 10 years. "Over 94 percent of the park is proposed wilderness, and it should sound like wilderness."

But the most impassioned testimony came from members of the Hualapai Indian Tribe, a group of 2,500 Native Americans living in northwest Arizona. The tribe's reservation includes 108 miles of the Grand Canyon. Several Hualapai members carried signs into the auditorium saying, "Tribal Jobs Yes, Economy Yes, Caps No."

"No one has more at stake than the Hualapai," tribal Vice Chairman Edgar Welema said. "We have lived in the Grand Canyon since time immemorial. Our identity and our way of life are tied to those lands."

Because of its location, the western part of the Hualapai reservation is a key stop for many Las Vegas air tour operators. About 100,000 tourists visit the Hualapai reservation annually, supplying millions of dollars in revenues. Although the flights run almost entirely over Hualapai territory, they would also be affected by the caps, since the only way to fly into the reservation is by crossing a small sliver of the park.

The revenues are critical for the Hualapai, tribal members said, because the tribe has few alternatives for economic development other than tourism. Unemployment on the reservation runs as high as 70 percent. Several tribal members said the caps would be tantamount to destroying the Hualapai Nation.

"The government never even thinks about the tribes," said Nicole Sullivan, a member of the Hualapai. "We're getting our revenues from the helicopter people. Without them, where would we be? It makes me angry, because that's all we have.

"It's just a shame we have to come here, because you didn't think about us. Just think of us as the little people, because you guys (the federal government) have always taken away everything from us."

Still, the Hualapai do have concerns about flights over their land. Welema noted that the flights were considered an intrusion on the tribe's sacred lands, which is why the Hualapai designated a separate economic development region on their western territories. But the FAA has begun redirecting flights over the Hualapai's eastern lands to reduce noise in the park, which angers the tribe.

"Our ceremonies require natural quiet and privacy from flights overhead," Welema said. "We are forced to state, once again, that the FAA has disregarded our recommendations to evaluate the environmental impact (of flights over the reservation). "As a sovereign nation, it is our right to decide what to do with our land."