UAF and NASA Holds Public Meetings to Prepare Rocket Launching EIS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with the University Of Fairbanks Alaska Geophysical Institute have scheduled public hearings in preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Sounding Rockets operations by NASA at the UAF’s Poker Flat Research Range precisely located 30 miles north of Fairbanks northeast of the unincorporated village of Chatanika, Alaska. This process is in accordance to what was required by the National Environmental Policy Act and also aims to support the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) decision-making process regarding the issuance of rocket launching permit on the area. Government representatives, interested parties and the public, in general, are invited to participate and share their valuable insights during these meetings.

The first meeting is scheduled tomorrow, April 28, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Fort Yukon Tribal Hall in Fort Yukon, Alaska. This will be followed by another meeting on Monday, May 2, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, William R. Wood Center, 505 S. Chandalar Drive in Fairbanks, Alaska and another one at Pioneer Park, Centennial Center for the Arts, Blue Room/3rd Floor, 2300 Airport Way, in Fairbanks, Alaska around 6:00 to 8:00 p.m on the same date. The last meeting scheduled is on Tuesday, May 3, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Gordon Watson Conference Room, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Rd., in Anchorage, Alaska.

The meetings agenda includes provision of adequate information and overview of NASA’s rocket launching project as well as the regulatory issues under the National Environmental Policy Act. Public discussion and open forums will then follow the important preliminary presentations.

For interested attendees or even those who may not be physically present but still wants to submit their comments, you may contact Joshua Bundick, Manager of Poker Flat Research Range EIS via mail, email, fax or phone at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA  23337, Phone: (757) 824-2319, Fax: (757) 824-1819 or Email: Joshua.A.Bundick@nasa.gov.

Further information about NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is available at http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810; about the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Poker Flat Research Range at http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu and about the NEPA process involved in this issue at http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code250/pfrr_eis.html.

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