49 U.S.C. § 44715 — Controlling aircraft noise and sonic boom

(a) Standards and Regulations. (1)(A) To relieve and protect public health and welfare from aircraft noise and sonic boom, the FAA must, as it sees necessary, prescribe standards for measuring aircraft noise and sonic boom, and regulations to control and reduce them. (B) The FAA must arrange, as it sees appropriate, for an EPA representative to take part in advisory committees or working groups that advise it on the environmental effects of aircraft and engines. (2) The FAA can only prescribe standards and regulations here after consulting the EPA, and must apply them when issuing, amending, modifying, suspending, or revoking a certificate under this chapter. (3) An original aircraft type certificate can be issued for an aircraft needing substantial noise abatement only after the FAA has prescribed standards and regulations under this section that apply to it. (b) Considerations and Consultation. When prescribing a standard or regulation here, the FAA must: (1) consider relevant information about aircraft noise and sonic boom; (2) consult appropriate federal departments, agencies, and state and interstate authorities; (3) consider whether the standard or regulation fits with the highest degree of safety in air transportation or commerce in the public interest; (4) consider whether it is economically reasonable, technologically practicable, and right for the aircraft, engine, appliance, or certificate involved; and (5) consider how well it will carry out this section's purposes. (c) Proposed Regulations of Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA must submit to the FAA proposed regulations to control and abate aircraft noise and sonic boom (including through the FAA's own authority) that it considers necessary to protect public health and welfare. The FAA must consider those proposed regulations and publish them as a notice of proposed regulations within 30 days of receiving them. Within 60 days after publication, the FAA must begin a hearing giving interested people a chance for oral and written statements. Within 90 days after the hearing ends, and after consulting the EPA, the FAA must either (1) prescribe regulations that are (A) substantially the same as the EPA's proposal, or (B) an amended version of it; or (2) publish in the Federal Register a notice that no regulation is being issued, a detailed analysis of and response to the EPA's submitted information, and a detailed explanation of why no regulation is being issued. (d) Consultation and Reports. (1) If the EPA believes the FAA's action under (c)(1)(B) or (c)(2) doesn't protect public health and welfare from aircraft noise or sonic boom, consistent with (b), the EPA must consult with the FAA and may request a report on whether to prescribe the regulation as originally proposed. That request, with a detailed statement of its basis, must be published in the Federal Register. (2) The FAA must report back to the EPA within the time the request specifies (at least 90 days after the request). The report must (A) include the FAA's findings and its reasons for them, (B) identify any related environmental impact statement filed under the National Environmental Policy Act, (C) say whether and where that statement is available for public inspection, and (D) be published in the Federal Register, unless the request proposed specific FAA action and the report says that action will be taken. (e) Supplemental Reports. If the FAA's (d) report says the EPA's proposed regulations under (c) — where no environmental impact statement was required — shouldn't be prescribed, the EPA can ask the FAA to file a supplemental report, to be published in the Federal Register within a time the EPA sets (at least 90 days after the request). That report must compare the environmental effects, including unavoidable ones, of the FAA's action against the EPA's proposed regulations. (f) Exemptions. An exemption from a standard or regulation under this section can be granted only after the FAA consults the EPA first. But if the FAA finds that safety in air transportation or commerce requires an exemption before it can consult the EPA, it may grant the exemption anyway, and must consult the EPA as soon as practicable afterward.