ST. GEORGE — City officials are hoping an environmental impact statement just completed by the Federal Aviation Administration will soon lead to construction of a long-awaited $100 million replacement airport a few miles southeast of town.

"No one wants to be the one to say it's going to happen for sure, but we are very optimistic that we'll get final governmental approval next May," assistant city manager Marc Mortensen said.

A new airport is needed, proponents say, because the one used now is landlocked — and with it an important segment of the area's economy — atop a mesa overlooking downtown St. George. Use is limited to aircraft carrying 30 or fewer passengers, and lengthening the runways to accommodate the now more popular 70-passenger regional jets being flown by St. George-based SkyWest Airlines is impossible.

The project is massive and expensive — involving more than 1,300 acres plus the governments of two cities and the county. The city is using a $3 million federal grant to purchase land within the airport vicinity right now. And it's controversial, with at least one environmental preservation group — the Grand Canyon Trust — challenging in court the FAA's approval of a 2001 environmental assessment filed by St. George. A judge agreed that a comprehensive noise analysis was needed to evaluate the effect of airport noise on nearby Zion National Park.

"We think we've gone the extra mile in preparing the environmental impact statement," said Lowell Johnson, FAA Northwest Mountain Region Director. "I think we've developed a very solid document. We're on track to get the document printed and out for public comment."

Larry Bulloch, St. George public works director, said the FAA has shown "real commitment" to the replacement airport project, "working very closely with the National Park Service and the environmentalists," Bulloch said. "We will need to get the environmental process completed before we can continue, though."

Issues tackled in the EIS include the number of arrivals and departures at the existing airport compared to those projected at the new facility. Also examined will be expected traffic from air-tour operators, the military, general aviation not under air-traffic control and overhead flights.

"There are some complicated issues, with 45 different park-like properties within the 80-by-88-square-mile study area," he said. "We've tried to do a very, very thorough job of locating different sources of aviation noise. We've worked very closely with the National Park Service since they're a cooperating agency."

Printed copies of the assessment should be available for public review in early September with a public hearing in mid-October and a 60-days comment period.

The FAA has final say, but it has already gone on record in 2001 supporting the expanded airport.

"There are a lot of different interests at play here," Johnson said. "We just don't know yet how it will turn out. It's difficult to gauge what may happen, but it's our intention to press on, to keep it moving."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com