Air Pollution Control; Proposed Actions on Clean Air Act Grants to the South Coast Air Quality Management District; California

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5502-8]

Air Pollution Control; Proposed Actions on Clean Air Act Grants

to the South Coast Air Quality Management District; California

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed determinations with request for comments and notice of

opportunity for public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. EPA has made two proposed determinations that

reductions in expenditures of non-Federal funds for the South Coast Air

Quality Management District (SCAQMD) in Diamond Bar, California are a

result of non-selective reductions in expenditures. These

determinations, when final, will permit the SCAQMD to keep the

financial assistance awarded to it by EPA for FY-95, and to be awarded

financial assistance for FY-96 by EPA, under section 105(c) of the

Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: Comments and/or requests for a public hearing must be received

by EPA at the address stated below by June 10, 1996.

ADDRESSES: All comments and/or requests for a public hearing should be

mailed to: Douglas K. McDaniel, Air Grants Section (A-2-3), Air and

Toxics Division, U.S. EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San

Francisco, California 94105-3901; FAX (415) 744-1076.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas K. McDaniel, Air Grants

Section (A-2-3), Air and Toxics Division, U.S. EPA Region IX, 75

Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105-3901 at (415) 744-

1246.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the authority of Section 105 of the

CAA, EPA provides financial assistance (grants) to the SCAQMD, whose

jurisdiction includes Los Angeles and Orange Counties in southern

California, to aid in the operation of its air pollution control

programs. In FY-95, EPA awarded the SCAQMD $7,454,238, which

represented approximately 7.8% of the SCAQMD's budget.

Section 105(c)(1) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7405(c)(1), provides that

``[n]o agency shall receive any grant under this section during any

fiscal year when its expenditures of non-Federal funds for recurrent

expenditures for air pollution control programs will be less than its

expenditures were for such programs during the preceding fiscal year.

In order for [EPA] to award grants under this section in a timely

manner each fiscal year, [EPA] shall compare an agency's prospective

expenditure level to that of its second preceding year.'' EPA may still

award financial assistance to an agency not meeting this requirement,

however, if EPA, ``after notice and opportunity for public hearing,

determines that a reduction in expenditures is attributable to a non-

selective reduction in the expenditures in the programs of all

Executive branch agencies of the applicable unit of Government.'' CAA

Sec. 105(c)(2). These statutory requirements are repeated in EPA's

implementing regulations at 40 CFR 35.210(a).

In its FY-95 Sec. 105 application, which EPA reviewed in early

1995, the SCAQMD projected expenditures of non-Federal funds for

recurrent expenditures (or its maintenance of effort (MOE)) of

$82,811,585. This MOE would have been sufficient to meet the MOE

requirements of the CAA, i.e. it would have been equal to or greater

than the MOE for the previous year (FY-94). In January of 1996,

however, the SCAQMD submitted to EPA final documentation which shows

that its actual FY-95 MOE was $78,479,091. This amount represents a

shortfall of $2,026,404 from the MOE of $80,505,495 for the preceding

fiscal year (FY-94). In order for the SCAQMD to be eligible to keep its

FY-95 grant, EPA must make a determination under Sec. 105(c)(2).

Furthermore, in its FY-96 Sec. 105 grant application the SCAQMD

projected MOE of $78,452,571. This amount represents a shortfall of

$26,520 from the actual FY-95 MOE of $78,479,091. In order for the

SCAQMD to be eligible to be awarded its FY-96 grant, EPA must make a

determination under Sec. 105(c)(2).

The SCAQMD is a single-purpose agency whose primary source of

funding is emission fee revenue. It is the ``unit of Government'' for

Sec. 105(c)(2) purposes. The SCAQMD submitted documentation to EPA

which shows that over the last three years emission reductions brought

on by a combination of economic recession and more restrictive emission

rules have reduced fee revenues from stationary sources from a high of

$74,433,331 in 1990-1991 to $52,282,026 in 1994-1995. The SCAQMD

projects this revenue loss to continue through FY-96. As a result, the

SCAQMD has instituted hiring/salary freezes, furloughs, and layoffs,

has reduced its equipment purchases and contract expenditures, and has

instituted new programs to reduce costs such as permit streamlining,

computer-assisted permit processing, and privatization efforts.

Therefore, the SCAQMD's MOE reductions resulted from a loss of fee

revenues due to circumstances beyond its control. EPA proposes to

determine that the SCAQMD's lower FY-95 and FY-96 MOE levels meet the

Sec. 105(c)(2) criteria as resulting from a non-selective reduction of

expenditures. Pursuant to 40 CFR 35.210, these determinations will

allow the SCAQMD to keep the funds received from EPA for FY-95 and be

awarded financial assistance for FY-96.

This notice constitutes a request for public comment and an

opportunity for public hearing as required by the Clean Air Act. All

written comments received by June 10, 1996 on this proposal will be

considered. EPA will conduct a public hearing on this proposal only if

a written request for such is received by EPA at the address above by

June 10, 1996.

If no written request for a hearing is received, EPA will proceed

to both final determinations. While notice of the final determinations

will not be published in the Federal Register, copies of the

determinations can be obtained by sending a written request to Douglas

McDaniel at the above address.

Dated: May 2, 1996.

David P. Howekamp,

Director, Air and Toxics Division, U.S. EPA, Region 9.

[FR Doc. 96-11753 Filed 5-9-96; 8:45 am]

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