[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 54 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12128-12129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-6159]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-409-OAR-09-0148; FRL-8783-2]


Proposed Determination for Washoe County Moe

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice; request for comments and notice of opportunity for 
public hearing.

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SUMMARY: EPA has made a proposed determination that reduction in 
expenditures of non-Federal funds for the Washoe County District Health 
Department (WCDHD) in Reno, Nevada are a result of county-wide non-
selective reductions in expenditures. This determination, when final, 
will permit the WCDHD to receive grant funding for FY2009 from the EPA, 
under Section 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: Comments and/or requests for a public hearing must be received 
by EPA at the address state below by April 22, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number [09-0148], by 
one of the following methods:
    1. Federal Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 
instructions.
    2. E-mail: [email protected]
    3. or deliver to: Roy Rod (Air-8), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901.
    Instructions: All comments will be included in the public docket 
without change and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or 
other information whose disclosure is districted by protected should be 
clearly identified as such and should not be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. http://www.regulations.gov is an 
``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will not know your identity or 
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. 
If you send e-mail directly to EPA, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the public comment. If 
EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot 
contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your 
comment.
    Docket: The index to the docket for this action is available 
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA 
Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all 
documents in the docket are listed in the index, some information may 
be publicly available only at the hard copy location (e.g., CBI). To 
inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an appointment during 
normal business hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roy Ford, EPA Region IX, (415) 972-
3997, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the authority of Section 105 of the 
CAA, EPA provides grant funding to the WCDHD to aid in the operation of 
its air

[[Page 12129]]

pollution control programs. In FY2008, EPA awarded the WCDHD $632,694, 
which represented approximately 36% of the WCDHD budget. In FY2009, EPA 
will award the WCDHD $632, 649, which represents approximately 43% pf 
the WCDHD budget.
    Section 105(c) (1) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7405(c) (1) provides that 
``no 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. 
However, pursuant to Section 105(c) (2) of the CAA, EPA may still award 
a grant to an agency not meeting the requirements of Section 105(c) 
(2), ``if the Administrator, 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 the Government.'' 
These statutory requirements are repeated in EPA's implementing 
regulations at 40 CFR 35 140-35.148.
    WCDHD's final Financial Status Report for FY08 indicated that 
WCDHD's maintenance of effort (MOE) level was $1,711,833. The budgeted 
FY2009 MOE is $1,451,265.
    The projected MOE is not sufficient to meet the MOE requirements 
under the CAA Section 105 because it is not equal to or greater than 
the MOE for the previous fiscal year. In order for the WCDHD to be 
eligible to receive its FY2009 CAA Section 105 grant, EPA must make a 
determination (after notice and opportunity for a public hearing) that 
the reduction in expenditures is attributable to a non-selective 
reduction in the expenditures in the programs of all the Washoe County 
agencies. EPA, Region IX has yet to award the Section 105 award for the 
FY09 to the WCDHD.
    The shortfall stems from an action taken by the Washoe County Board 
of County Commissioners in February 2008, directing Washoe County 
agencies to reduce budget expenditures in order to make up for a budget 
deficit of $22,700,000. The budget cuts were not aimed solely at the 
Health District. Each entity in Washoe County was required to reduce 
budget expenditures, including police and fire protection services, 
etc.
    The Health District has five divisions: (1) Administrative Health 
Services (AHS); (2) Air Quality Management (AWM); (3) Community and 
Clinical Health Services (CCHS); (4) Environmental Health Services 
(EHS); and (5) Epidemiology and Public Health Preparedness (EPHP). Each 
division has borne a percentage of the total FY09 reduction. The 
combined reduction in budgeted expenditures for the Health District in 
FY2009 (July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009) totaled approximately 
$1,581,515 as summarized below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             FY09 % of
                Division                      FY09 $           total
                                             reduction       reduction
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AHS*....................................      $(188,509)         -11.89%
AQM**...................................         $84,000           5.32%
CCHS....................................      $1,105,569          69.91%
EHS.....................................        $435,681          27.55%
EPHP....................................        $144,188           9.12%
                                         -------------------------------
    Total...............................      $1,581,515           100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* AHS ``negative'' reduction due to payout budget for organizational
  retirements $147,000 and reorganization of personnel from CCHS and EHS
  to AHS (Department Computer Application Specialist, GIS Specialist,
  Account Clerk II, and Administrative Assistant II, -41,509).
** AQM reduction only reflects one vacancy Public Information Officer.
  However, two additional vacancies (Administrative Secretary Supervisor
  and Senior Air Quality Specialist) are anticipated to remain unfilled
  until funding is available. Therefore, three vacancies are reflected
  in FY09 anticipated MOE of $1,451,265.

    To meet the $1,057,965 reduction requirements for FY09, the Health 
District substantially reduced budget for personnel (-$1,022,065) and 
minimally reduced budget for operating expenditures (-$35,000). Ten 
positions were permanently abolished and the Health District is holding 
seven (7) vacancies ``dark''. The ``dark'' positions will remain vacant 
until sufficient funding is available. To meet the additional $532,550 
reduction requirements for FY09, the Health District substantially 
reduced the budget for personnel: (-$501,550) and minimally reduced the 
budget for operating expenditures (-$31,000). The majority of the 
reduction came from the Family Planning Program local budget, which was 
reduced by 50%, or $372,250.
    The WCDHD's MOE reduction resulted from a loss of revenues from the 
County to all agencies due to circumstances beyond its control. EPA 
proposes to determine that the WCDHD lower FY9 MOE level meets the CAA 
Section 105(c)(2) criteria as resulting from a non-selective reduction 
of expenditures.
    This notice constitutes a request for public comment and an 
opportunity for public hearing as required by the CAA. All written 
comments received by April 22, 2009 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 22, 2009. 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 Roy 
Ford at the above address.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7405 et seq.

    Dated: March 9, 2009.
Laura Yoshii,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
 [FR Doc. E9-6159 Filed 3-20-09; 8:45 am]
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