Air Pollution Control; Proposed Actions on Clean Air Act Grants to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5695-6]

Air Pollution Control; Proposed Actions on Clean Air Act Grants

to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District

AGENCY: 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 that a

reduction in expenditures of non-Federal funds for the Ventura County

Air Pollution Control District (APCD) in Ventura, California is the

result of a non-selective reduction in expenditures. This

determination, when final, will permit Ventura County APCD to keep the

financial assistance awarded to it by EPA for FY-96 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 March 31, 1997.

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

mailed to: Sara Bartholomew, Grants and Program Integration Office

(AIR-8), Air Division, U.S. EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara Bartholomew, Grants and Program

Integration Office (AIR-8), Air Division, U.S. EPA Region 9, 75

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

1250.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the authority of Section 105 of the

CAA, EPA provides financial assistance (grants) to the Ventura County

APCD, whose jurisdiction includes Ventura County in southern

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

programs. In FY-96, EPA awarded the Ventura County APCD $1,398,500,

which represented approximately 22% of Ventura'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

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

implementing regulations at 40 CFR section 35.210(a).

In its FY-96 Section 105 application, which EPA reviewed in early

1996, the Ventura County APCD projected expenditures of non-Federal

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

of $4,905,690. This projected MOE was not sufficient to meet the MOE

requirements of the CAA, i.e. it was not equal to or greater than the

MOE for the previous year (FY-95), which was $4,928,948 according to

the Financial Status Report (FSR) for FY-95. Furthermore, in January of

1997 the Ventura County APCD submitted to EPA the FSR for FY-96, which

shows that the actual FY-96 MOE was $4,588,325. This amount represents

a shortfall of $340,623 from the MOE for FY-95. In order for the

Ventura County APCD to be eligible to keep its FY-96 grant, EPA must

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

The Ventura County APCD 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 reason for the lower MOE

level in FY-96 is a series of efficiencies that Ventura County APCD has

implemented. Ventura has provided to Region 9 documentation which shows

that it has been able to reduce its administrative expenditures in its

programs through cost saving measures which do not affect the

performance of its air programs or reduce its expenditures for

substantive environmental program activities. For example, Ventura has

reduced indirect costs paid to the County by $95,000 and reduced the

need for outside contracts by $70,000 by getting weather forecast

information free from the Internet. These cost saving measures were

taken not because fee revenues had declined, but because Ventura wanted

to operate more efficiently.

Fee revenues in Ventura APCD are, however, projected to decrease

significantly over the next few years because emissions will decrease.

In order to avoid a future shortfall in revenue, Ventura has taken the

savings generated by the efficiencies and placed them in a savings or

dedicated reserve account. This account is dedicated to support only

the District's air program, and would be used to cover shortfalls in

meeting its MOE requirement in future years, as needed.

Consistent with the 105 program requirements, Ventura will not use

federal funds to supplant local funds that are currently available for

the program. The district will continue to operate its program at its

current level as long as the fee revenues continue at their present

pace. If the revenues drop, the district will tap the savings or

reserve account to supplement fee revenue losses.

In summary, Ventura County APCD's MOE reductions resulted from a

series of efficiency measures and the district has created a strategy

to offset projected future loss of fee revenues with current savings.

EPA proposes to determine that the Ventura County APCD's lower FY-96

MOE level meets the Section 105(c)(2) criteria as resulting from a non-

selective reduction of expenditures. Pursuant to 40 CFR Section 35.210,

this determination will allow the Ventura County APCD to keep the funds

received from EPA 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 March 31, 1997 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

March 31, 1997.

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

to the final determination. While notice of the final determination

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

determination can be obtained by sending a written request to Sara

Bartholomew at the above address.

Dated: February 11, 1997.

David P. Howekamp,

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

[FR Doc. 97-4891 Filed 2-26-97; 8:45 am]

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