There are several MTRs and the BURNER Air Traffic Control Assigned
Airspace around Seymour Johnson AFB and Dare County Range. Other MTRs
in the Study Area are controlled and utilized by other branches of the
military.
Department of Defense Energy Siting Clearinghouse
Section 358 of the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act pertains to
studying the impacts of the development of new energy production facilities
on military operations and readiness. For example, tall structures
constructed for energy production facilities and transmission projects, such
as wind turbines and solar power towers as well as electrical transmission
towers sited in or under designated low‐altitude MTRs and special use
airspace at Seymour Johnson AFB, the DCR and in the northeast North
Carolina JLUS Study Area may present a serious collision hazard to military
aircraft operations. Additionally, wind turbines located near military test
and training ranges can impact airborne military radar capability.
The Energy Siting Clearinghouse serves to coordinate the DOD review of
existing applications for energy projects. Several key elements of Section
358 include designation of a senior official and lead organization to conduct
the review of energy project applications, a specific time frame for
completion of a hazard assessment associated with an application (30 days),
specific criteria for DOD objections to projects and a requirement to provide
an annual status report to Congress. This legislation facilitates procedural
certainty and a predictable process that promotes compatibility between
energy independence and military capability.
Federal Aviation Act
The Federal Aviation Act was enacted in 1958 to provide methods for
overseeing and regulating civilian and military use of airspace over the US.
The Act requires the Secretary of Transportation to make long‐range plans
that formulate policy for the orderly development and use of navigable air
space. The intent is to serve the needs of both civilian aeronautics and
national defense, but does not specifically address the needs of military
agencies. Military planning strives to work alongside local, state, and federal
aviation law and policies but sometimes must supersede these and other
levels of government due to national security interests. The Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) was created as a result of the Act for a variety
of purposes, including the management of airspace over the US.
The 500‐foot rule, promulgated by the FAA, states that every citizen of the
United States has “a public right of freedom of transit in air commerce
through the navigable air space of the United States.” The rule was formally
announced in the 1963 Court of Claims ruling in Aaron v. United States and
states that flights 500 feet or more above ground level (AGL) do not
represent a compensable taking because flights 500 feet AGL enjoy a right of
free passage without liability to the owners below.
Another important outcome of the Act is FAA Regulation Title 14 Part 77,
commonly known as Part 77, which provides the basis for evaluation of
vertical obstruction compatibility. This regulation determines compatibility
based on the height of proposed structures or natural features relative to
their distance from the ends of a runway. Using a distance formula from this
regulation, Wayne County and the Cit yof Goldsboro can easily assess the
height restrictions near the Seymour Johnson AFB airfield. Additional
information on Part 77 is located on the FAA Internet site at
http://www.faa.gov/. The height standards to determine obstructions within
navigable airspace established by Part 77 can be found in Section 3.6 of the
Background Report.
The FAA has identified certain imaginary surfaces around runways to
determine how structures and facilities are evaluated and identify if they
pose a vertical obstruction relative to the airspace around a runway. The
levels of imaginary surfaces build upon one another and are designed to
eliminate obstructions to air navigation and operations, either natural or
man‐made. The dimension or size of an imaginary surface depends on the
runway classification.
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Seymour Johnson AFB and Dare County Range JLUS Report