Air Pollution Control, Proposed Action on Clean Air Act Grant to the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5444-3]

Air Pollution Control, Proposed Action on Clean Air Act Grant to

the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District

AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed determination with request for comments and notice of

opportunity for public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. EPA has made a proposed determination under section

105(c) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) that a reduction in expenditures of

non-Federal funds for the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control

District (MBUAPCD or ``district'') in Monterey, California is a result

of a non-selective reduction in expenditures. This determination, when

final, will permit the MBUAPCD to keep the financial assistance awarded

to it for FY-95 by EPA under section 105(a) of the CAA.

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

by EPA at the address stated below by April 19, 1996.

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

mailed to: Roy T. Ford, 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: Roy T. Ford, 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) 744-1233.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the authority of Section 105 of the

CAA, EPA provides financial assistance to the MBUAPCD to aid in the

operation of its air pollution control programs. In FY-94 EPA awarded

the MBUAPCD $347,863, which represented approximately 10% of the

MBUAPCD's budget. In FY-95 EPA awarded the MBUAPCD $292,856, which

represented approximately 8% of the MBUAPCD's budget.

Section 105(c)(1) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. Section 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.''

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 Section 105(c)(2). These statutory requirements are

repeated in EPA's implementing regulations at 40 CFR 35.210(a).

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

1995, the MBUAPCD projected recurrent expenditures (or its maintenance

of effort (MOE)) of $3,254,272. This MOE would have been sufficient to

meet the MOE requirements of the CAA because it was not lower than the

FY-94 MOE of $2,967,502. In January of 1996, however, the MBUAPCD

submitted to EPA documentation which shows that its actual FY-95 MOE

was $2,828,502. This amount represents a shortfall of

[[Page 11404]]

$139,352 from the FY-94 MOE. In order for the MBUAPCD to be eligible to

keep its FY-95 grant, EPA must make a determination under Section

105(c)(2) that the reduction in expenditures is attributable to a non-

selective reduction in the programs of all agencies of the applicable

unit of government.

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

funding is permit fee revenue. Fees associated with permits issued by

the MBUAPCD go directly to the district to fund its operations. It is

the ``unit of Government'' for Section 105(c)(2) purposes. The MBUAPCD

submitted documentation to EPA which shows that in 1994 and 1995 air

permit fee revenues decreased because of declining economic conditions

which caused the business community to curtail operations, resulting in

fewer permits issued and fees collected. As a result, the MBUAPCD's

overall budget and its MOE decreased. The MBUAPCD also submitted

documentation to EPA which shows that over the last three years the

district instituted a number of cost cutting measures, including the

elimination of a position and reductions in hiring, equipment

purchases, and contract costs.

The MBUAPCD's MOE reductions resulted from budget cuts stemming

from a loss of fee revenues due to circumstances beyond its control.

EPA proposes to determine that the MBUAPCD's lower FY-95 MOE level

meets the Section 105(c)(2) criteria of a non-selective reduction.

Pursuant to the CAA and 40 CFR 35.210, this determination will allow

the MBUAPCD to keep the funds received from EPA for FY-95.

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 April 19, 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

April 19, 1996. If no written request for a hearing is received, EPA

will proceed to a final determination. While notice of the final

determination will not be published in the Federal Register, a copy of

the determination can be obtained by sending a written request to the

above address.

Dated: March 6, 1996.

David P. Howekamp,

Director, Air and Toxics Division.

[FR Doc. 96-6722 Filed 3-19-96; 8:45 am]

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