Subject: Kodiak Airport EIS Update Happy New Year! This message is to inform agencies and other interested parties of the status of the Kodiak Airport Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) being prepared by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As you know, the purpose of the EIS is to evaluate actions proposed by the Airport operator, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to bring the facility into compliance with the most current national aviation safety standards for runway safety areas. At the end of the summer I sent you a note to make you aware that FAA was conducting a comprehensive review of the runway safety area alternatives. That review has taken much longer than anticipated, but I am pleased to say it is nearing completion. I won't use e-mail to explain all of the changes we've made, or the policy rationale and operational constraints dictating the range of alternatives to be included in the Draft EIS. I plan on meeting with you in the near future to convey that information. However, I will tell you that the alternatives for both runways 18/36 and 7/25 will incorporate, to a much greater extent, the use of EMAS technology to provide added safety margin, particularly for aircraft overruns while landing or from an aborted takeoff. Greater reliance on EMAS should translate to somewhat smaller disturbance footprints in surrounding marine waters. (I realize that most of you don't practice arcane aviation acronyms on a frequent basis, so I'll just remind you that EMAS stands for Engineered Materials Arresting System, an array of crushable cellular cement blocks at the end of a runway that cause a rapid aircraft deceleration.) I will soon be directing my consulting team to start evaluating environmental impacts of the new alternatives, and to incorporate these analyses into a revised EIS. And, of course, we have made and are continuing to make other changes to the analyses based in many instances on the substantive comments made by those of you who reviewed the PDEIS. I will be scheduling meetings in mid-February, most likely the week of February 14 or February 21, to review our work with as many of you as are available. Our intent will be to present you with a detailed explanation of the alternatives, including the physical and operational factors that limit or even prevent consideration of some options and other rationale used to screen alternatives. I'll make sure that we spend as much time as needed to explain the new alternatives and why EMAS appears to provide Kodiak Airport with particular environmental advantages, as opposed to more traditional but larger RSA fill construction. I also hope to be able to present you with FAA's preferred alternatives. Our extended review of alternatives has affected the project schedule, but I still plan on releasing a Draft EIS to the public in mid-2011. As we get closer to completion of the analysis and documentation, I will provide additional updates to inform you of our progress and next steps. In the next couple of weeks I will send a follow-up message with specific dates and locations for our February meetings. In the meantime, please let me know if you have questions or concerns, at the contact information below. And, as always, please let me know if you should no longer be on our e-mail distribution list, or if your contact information has changed. If there are others in your organization who should receive these updates and other information concerning the Kodiak Airport EIS, please forward this message. Thanks! Leslie Leslie A. Grey Environmental Protection Specialist FAA - Alaskan Region, Airports Division 907-271-5453
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