3.7 hazardous materials and hazardous waste - Missile Defense ...

Chapter 3—Affected Environment3.10.1.2 Eareckson AS—NoiseEareckson AS is located on Shemya Island, which has no populationother than personnel associated with the air station, and based on table3.10-5, would be expected to have a background noise level of DNL lessthan or equal to 55 dBA.Shemya Island is very quiet due to the prevailing winds, and aircraft noiseis only heard when standing next to the airfield (EDAW, Inc., 1998—TripReport of visit to Shemya, Alaska, April 24–May 1).The closest civilian community is Atka, which is approximately 604kilometers (375 miles) from Shemya Island.3.10.1.3 Eielson AFB—NoiseThe area surrounding Eielson AFB is sparsely populated, and thus, basedon table 3.10-5, would be expected to have a background noise level ofDNL less than or equal to 55 dBA.Aircraft noise at Eielson AFB occurs during aircraft engine warm-up,maintenance and testing, taxiing, takeoffs, approaches, and landings.Noise contours for aircraft operations were modeled for the Eielson AFBAir Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) Study (U.S. Department ofthe Air Force, 1992) and updated in 1996 (Eielson AFB, 1998—Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan).As shown in figure 3.10-1, the contour with a DNL value of 65 dBA wasestimated to occur outside the base boundaries on land off the northernend of Runway 31. The community of Moose Creek, which has lowdensity housing, does fall within this contour. The highest DNLs occuron the runway and taxiways and were measured at 85 dBA. The loudestnoise contours were estimated to have a DNL value of 85 dBA and tosurround the majority of the airfield’s primary surface. (Eielson AFB,1998—Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan)The main highway in the vicinity of Eielson AFB is the RichardsonHighway. The Richardson Highway, a four-lane divided highway,provides access to the base through the Hursey Gate. This gate is theonly operational gate at Eielson allowing access to and from theinstallation (Pacific Air Forces, 1998—Draft General Plan, Eielson AFB).The summer average daily traffic count for the Richardson Highway inthe vicinity of the base is 10,461 (Alaska Department of Transportationand Public Facilities, 1997—Annual Traffic Volume Report). Assuming aneven division of the traffic (i.e., 5,230 on each side of the dividedhighway), traffic noise levels of Leq(1 hour) equals 72 dBA, Leq(1 hour) equals 67dBA, and Leq(1 hour) equals 57 dBA are estimated to occur at approximatelyNMD Deployment Final EIS 3-299