Letter to Hon. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior and Hon. Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation - Rep. Boebert Defends Tourism, Small Businesses, the Disabled, and Aerial Wildfire Fighters from the Biden Regime's Job-Killing Overreach

Letter

Dear Secretary Haaland and Secretary Buttigieg,

We strongly oppose the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) and the National Park
Service's (NPS) current 15 draft Air Tour Management Plans (ATMPs) and have serious
concerns with how your agencies are handling efforts to establish ATMPs at 24 national parks
and monuments. After 20 years of bickering and bureaucratic turf wars between FAA and NPS,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that both agencies have two years to
implement new ATMPs.

While we understand both agencies' desire to comply with the Court's directives, the flawed plans put forth by NPS and FAA will cause adverse economic consequences, compromise safety, reduce access to national parks for seniors and the disabled, and may even dimmish efforts to combat catastrophic wildfires. Contrary to federal law, the plans were also developed without the consultation of impacted stakeholders and undermine Congressional intent. Furthermore, your agencies fail to make a legitimate case for eliminating 8,984 flight allocations in the first 15 ATMPs.

In short, we fully support the continuation and expansion of air tours at the 24 parks and
monuments currently under review and oppose the current draft plans for the following reasons:

Bureaucratic Overreach and Economic Concerns

The original ATMPs made no mention of reducing flight allocations for air tour operators.
Shockingly, however, the first 15 of the 24 draft ATMPs for these national parks under review
propose to eliminate 8,984 flight allocations.

Some draft ATMPs also propose to require flight routes at excessive heights of 13,500 feet or
above. This new requirement could necessitate onboard oxygen for all passengers thereby
drastically increasing costs for air tour operators.

In addition, air tour operators took out loans, including federal loans, and made significant
investments in modifying equipment to comply with federal laws and regulations. Flight
allocations are a measure of value for air tour operators' businesses and any reduction in the
number of flight allocations will have negative impacts on the long-term health of their
business.

Failure to Consult with Impacted Stakeholders

During the ATMP drafting process, the FAA and NPS opted for a government-to-government
tribal consultation, but excluded the National Parks Overflight Advisory Group (NPOAG), state
and local governments, and other interested parties. The National Parks Air Tour Management
Act explicitly requires the FAA and the NPS to hold "at least one public meeting with interested
parties to develop the air tour management plan." Shamefully, despite repeated requests to
participate, those facing negative impacts by these changes were excluded from the decision
making process.8 Many of the issues contained in the draft ATMPs are exactly the kind of
information that NPOAG and other stakeholders could have conveyed to your agencies had you
included them in the planning process.

Safety Concerns

NPOAG, a Congressionally created rulemaking committee, provides expert advice and
recommendations to the agencies on implementing the National Park Air Tour Management Act
of 2000 with respect to commercial air tour operations over and near national parks.
Sidestepping this important group undeniably compromises key FAA safety considerations.
For example, the draft ATMP for Bryce Canyon National Park creates an extreme safety
concern. This flawed draft plan proposes stacking fixed and rotary wing aircraft at the same
elevation on almost identical routes at the same time of day. Aerial collisions could occur as
fixed and rotary wing aircraft descend and climb through each other's paths.

The draft ATMP for Arches National Park seemingly ignores common sense. Despite Arches
National Park's location less than two miles from the Canyonlands Regional Airport, the draft
plan requires the use of a different frequency than the common traffic advisory frequency used
by the airport.

Undermines Congressional Intent

In 2012, Congress passed legislation with strong bipartisan support that required the FAA to provide incentives, including significantly increasing flight allocations, for air tour operators that
invested tens of millions of dollars in quiet aircraft technology. As a result of this clear
direction from Congress and substantial investment from the private sector, in February 2014,
the FAA announced more than 1,700 additional quiet flight allocations per year over Grand
Canyon National Park. There is no justifiable reason to significantly reduce flight allocations as
proposed in many of the draft plans, especially given Congress's and the American peoples'
desire to maintain or significantly increase current flight allocations.

Reducing Access for Seniors and the Disabled

Air tour operators provide an important service for our disabled and elderly communities,
allowing them to fully enjoy the great outdoors and our national parks in a way they otherwise
could not.14 Capping air tours at the reduced levels proposed by NPS and the FAA will prevent
demand from seniors and the disability community from being met.

Ignores Contributions to Combatting Dangerous Wildfires

Numerous air tour operators provide essential wildfire suppression and active management
services that help prevent and extinguish catastrophic wildfires. In some instances, 30% of air
tour operators' businesses come from providing these services.15 Representatives from industry
have indicated that without the commercial air tours portion of their business, the federal
contracting wildfire portion is not economically sustainable and would be terminated.
Considering the massive wildfires that have plagued the nation in recent years, losing these
essential services would be another unnecessary and preventable blunder.

Conclusion

While the court imposed a two-year deadline, both the FAA and the NPS bear responsibility for
a two-decade protracted process. Excluding NPOAG and other interested stakeholders in the
process jeopardizes the safety of the National Airspace, reduces access for seniors and the
disabled, compromises safety, causes economic harms, undermines the will of Congress, and
ignores important efforts to combat catastrophic wildfires.

We request that your agencies discard any draft ATMPs that drastically reduces flight allocations
or ignore consultation with air tour operators and interested parties, as required by federal law.
We also ask that your agencies please provide answers within 30 days of receipt of this letter to
the following questions:

(1) Why was NPOAG excluded from the planning process and developing the proposed plans?

(2) Why were states, local governments and other interested parties excluded from the planning
process and developing the proposed plans?

(3) What considerations were given to the elderly and disabled to view national parks in light of
the reduced flight allocations for air tour operators?

(4) How did your agencies determine that it was necessary to drastically reduce flight allocations
in your draft ATMPs?

(5) What agencies were included when structuring the routes over each park? How did you
evaluate the safety of the routes?

(6) What economic analysis and evaluations were conducted to ensure that a viable air tour
industry can prevail under each ATMP?

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