The Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service have decided not to do any in-depth analysis of air-tour impacts over Glacier and 14 other national parks, according to Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility/Rebecca Latson file

Despite more than two decades to get the task accomplished, and almost two years after a federal judge ordered the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service to get the job done by this summer, air tour management plans for eight national parks will not be completed on schedule, according to court documents filed by the two agencies.

On top of that, the agencies have turned to "categorical exclusions" to avoid crafting the plans for 15 parks, including Glacier, Death Valley, Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Bryce Canyon, according to Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility.

In light of the agencies' announcement that they won't be able to complete the management plans for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Badlands National Park, Hawaiˈi Volcanoes National Park, and Haleakalā National Park on time, PEER wants the the court to suspend all overflights across those parks that haven't finished their management plans by August.

“These agencies that are under court order precisely because of their unreasonable delay are now subjecting the U.S. Court of Appeals to even more unreasonable delay,” PEER General Counsel Paula Dinerstein said Thursday in a release, arguing that the agencies have yet to formally begin the National Environmental Policy Act review on these eight parks, a process that will likely take far longer than the agencies’ most recent estimate. “Our motion asks the court to suspend all overflights in parks without properly finished air tour management plans as of August 31, 2022."

It was 20 years ago that the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000 was implemented and required the FAA, in coordination with the NPS, to set limits on overflight numbers, timing, and routes to protect park resources and the visitor experience from noise and disruption in any park with more than 50 overflights a year. After what some saw as intransigence, in May 2020 a federal judge ordered the Park Service and FAA to complete air tour management plans within the next two years for several parks. 

For more than a year, the FAA and NPS filed quarterly progress reports with the court. In their latest filing, in late February, the agencies said they will be unable to complete plans for the eight parks with some of the highest levels of air traffic within that deadline.

• Lake Mead and Canyon de Chelly will take at least another year;
• Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge will take at least another 18 months; and
• Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Hawaiˈi Volcanoes, and Haleakalā national parks will take at least an additional year but “have the potential to delay completion” even longer.

In explaining the delays, the two agencies cited participation by tribal governments (Canyon de Chelly, Glen Canyon, Rainbow Bridge, Mount Rushmore, Badlands), commercial jet traffic and flights to Grand Canyon National Park that are exempt from the 2000 act (Lake Mead), and the high number of current air tours and stakeholders (Hawai'i Volcanoes, Haleakalā).

According to PEER, the agencies are claiming "categorical exclusions" -- claims that air tours won't have a significant impact on either the visitor experience or natural and cultural resources of a park -- for deciding not to follow the entire NEPA process in crafting air tour plans for 15 parks. This, said PEER, despite receiving more than 21,000 public comments for those parks' plans. Instead of doing noise surveys or any environmental analysis, PEER said the agencies will simply grandfather in, on a permanent basis, the current air traffic levels previously accepted without any review on an “interim” basis in the following park units:

• Glacier National Park
• Death Valley National Park
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Muir Woods National Monument
• Point Reyes National Seashore
• Olympic National Park
• Everglades National Park
• Mount Rainier National Park
• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Bandelier National Monument
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

“Noisy, disruptive air tours over Great Smokies, Bryce Canyon and many more national parks will continue under the draft plans," Kristen Brengel, senior vice president for government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, said Thursday in an email. "The National Park Service has not provided the public with any information or scientific data to support the status quo. Noisy helicopters and fixed wing planes will be allowed to continue and visitors who are trying to enjoy their once-in-a-lifetime visitor to our amazing national parks are just expected to put up with it. These plans violate the core of park policies to provide visitor experiences where people can enjoy the sounds of nature.”

At PEER, Jeff Ruch, the group's Pacific director, said the FAA and NPS "do not seem to grasp that the whole idea of air tour management plans is to make sure noisy air tours do not disturb wildlife or prevent park visitors from finding peace and quiet.”

“It will require additional judicial intervention to enforce the law protecting national parks from abusive commercial intrusion," he added.