Requirements To File Notice for Meteorological Towers and Other Wind Energy Systems

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 77</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2024-2574; Notice No. 25-01]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AK77</RIN> <SUBJECT>Requirements To File Notice for Meteorological Towers and Other Wind Energy Systems</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The FAA is proposing to amend requirements applicable to meteorological towers and permanent wind energy systems. This rule would require any person that owns (sponsor) any proposed, altered, or existing meteorological tower to file notice with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if the highest point of the structure is at least 50 feet above ground level (AGL) up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site. The FAA is also proposing marking requirements for meteorological towers constructed or altered after the effective date of a final rule if the highest point of the structure is at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site. Additionally, the FAA proposes making certain pertinent information about any meteorological tower with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site available on the FAA's official database. The FAA expects these changes to lower the collision risk for aircraft during low-altitude operations. Moreover, these requirements would partially address two statutory mandates and two National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Send comments on or before January 17, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2024-2574 using any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> Go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and follow the online instructions for sending your comments electronically. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery or Courier:</E> Take comments to Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. • <E T="03">Facsimile:</E> Fax comments to Docket Operations at (202) 493-2251. <E T="03">Docket:</E> Background documents or comments received may be read at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> at any time. Follow the online instructions for accessing the docket or go to the Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Brian Konie, Airspace Rules and Regulations Team, Air Traffic Organization, AJV-P21, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591; telephone: (202) 267-8783; email: <E T="03">brian.konie@faa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The FAA further proposes amending the notice requirements for any person that owns (sponsors) a proposed or altered permanent wind energy system. The FAA is also proposing to extend the expiration date of the Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation for permanent wind energy systems and associated meteorological towers. The FAA is also proposing to clarify that, except for structures that have received an FAA Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation prior to the effective date of a final rule or any meteorological tower with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site for which construction is complete prior to the effective date of a final rule, all conditions and limitations of any Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation are mandatory, which includes marking requirements. Finally, the FAA proposes making several miscellaneous conforming and clarifying amendments. <HD SOURCE="HD1">List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Frequently Used in This Document</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">AC—Advisory Circular</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">AGL—Above Ground Level</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ATC—Air Traffic Control</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">AWES—Airborne Wind Energy System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOE—Department of Energy</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FCC—Federal Communications Commission</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">GPS—Global positioning system</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NAAA—National Agricultural Aviation Association</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NAS—National Airspace System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NTSB—National Transportation Safety Board</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OE/AAA—Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SIR—Special Investigation Report</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">VOR—Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Executive Summary</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Overview of Proposed Rule</HD> This proposed rule would amend title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 77, Safe, Efficient Use, and Preservation of the Navigable Airspace, as it applies to all existing meteorological towers, as well as proposals to construct or alter a meteorological tower, with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site. The FAA proposes requiring a sponsor  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> proposing to construct or alter a meteorological tower at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site to file notice under § 77.9 pursuant to § 77.7(b). <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  The FAA notes that the word “Sponsor” is capitalized in Advisory Circular 70/7460-1. However, for purposes of this rulemaking, the word is lower case. </FTNT> This rule would also require sponsors of existing meteorological towers with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site to file notice with the FAA within 90 days of the final rule's effective date pursuant to § 77.9. Additionally, the FAA proposes making certain pertinent information about any meteorological tower with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site available on the FAA's official database, the Digital Obstacle File (DOF), available at <E T="03">https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/dof.</E> The FAA expects that collecting via the notice and sharing information on proposed, altered, and existing meteorological towers in the DOF database will improve situational awareness for pilots conducting low-altitude operations. In addition to the changes affecting meteorological towers, this proposed rule would also add additional requirements addressing permanent wind energy systems. The FAA needs these changes to properly handle the unique attributes of wind energy systems. The FAA proposes the following changes: • Require notice of proposed construction or alteration of a permanent wind energy system at least 90 days before the start date of the proposed construction or alteration, or the date an application for a construction permit is filed, whichever is earlier; and, • Amend the expiration date of the Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation under § 77.33 for permanent wind energy systems and associated meteorological towers to 36 months after the effective date of the determination. Finally, this proposed rule would make the following changes, clarifying and codifying current agency practice: • Add a definition of airborne wind energy system (AWES) to § 77.3 for consistency with the FAA's final notice of policy;  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES) Policy Statement, 87 FR 78849 (Dec. 23, 2022). </FTNT> • Add a definition of meteorological towers to § 77.3 for consistency with the FAA's final notice of policy;  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  Id. </FTNT> • Add a definition of sponsor to § 77.3 to clarify the scope of applicability; • Add a definition of wind energy system to § 77.3 to clarify the scope of applicability; • Amend § 77.7 to update the methods available to acquire an approved copy of FAA Form 7460-1, Notice of Proposed Construction or Alteration; • Revise the heading of § 77.9, “Construction or alteration requiring notice,” to “Notice requirements” to reflect that existing meteorological towers may need to provide notice to the FAA; • Redesignate § 77.11 as § 77.10, and amend to identify FAA Form 7460-2, Notice of Actual Construction or Alteration, as the form sponsors use to provide supplemental notice; • Add § 77.11 to require the sponsor to submit additional information upon request throughout the aeronautical study process, which includes all actions required pre- and post-determination; • Add § 77.12 to clarify that, except for structures that have received an FAA Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation prior to the effective date of a final rule or any meteorological tower with the highest point of the structure at least 50 feet AGL up to and including 200 feet AGL at its site for which construction is complete prior to the effective date of a final rule, a sponsor must comply with any conditions and limitations contained in a Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation including marking requirements that would be developed in accordance with the FAA Advisory Circular 70/7460-1, Obstruction Marking and Lighting, for proposed or altered meteorological towers with the highest point of the structure at lea ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 150k characters. 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