[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 155 (Friday, August 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49828-49830]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17481]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0705; FRL-10086-01-R9]
Clean Air Act Grant; Hawaii Department of Health; Opportunity for
Public Hearing
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed action; determination with request for comments and
notice of opportunity for public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is proposing to determine that the reduction in
expenditures of recurrent non-Federal funds for the Hawaii Department
of Health (HDOH) in support of its
[[Page 49829]]
continuing air program under section 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for
the fiscal year (FY) 2022 is a result of non-selective reductions in
expenditures. This determination, when final, will permit the HDOH to
receive grant funding for FY2023 from the EPA under section 105 of the
CAA.
DATE: Comments and/or requests for a public hearing must be received by
the EPA at the address stated below on or before September 12, 2022 .
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2022-0705 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be
Proprietary Business Information (PBI) or Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish
to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment
contents located outside of the primary submission (e.g., on the web,
cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission
methods, please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public comment policy,
information about PBI/CBI or multimedia submissions, and general
guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. If you need assistance in a
language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities
who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Asia Yeary, EPA Region IX, Pacific
Islands Contact Office, Prince Kuhio Federal Building, 300 Ala Moana
Blvd., Suite 5-152, Honolulu, HI 96850; phone at (808) 541-2726 or
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 105 of the CAA provides grant
funding to air pollution control agencies for the prevention and
control of air pollution or implementation of national primary and
secondary ambient air quality standards. In accordance with 40 CFR
35.145(a), the Regional Administrator may provide air pollution control
agencies up to three-fifths of the approved costs of implementing
programs for the prevention and control of air pollution. CAA section
105 grants require a cost share (also referred to as a match
requirement) of 40%. Program activities relevant to the match consist
of both recurring and non-recurring (unique, one-time only) expenses.
In addition, air pollution control agencies must meet a maintenance of
effort (MOE) requirement in accordance with section 105(c)(1) of the
CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7405(c)(1).
The MOE provision requires that an eligible agency spend at least
the same dollar level of funds as it did in the previous grant year for
the costs of recurring activities. Specifically, section 105(c)(1) of
the CAA 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 CAA section 105(c)(2), 42
U.S.C. 7405(c)(2), the EPA may still award a grant to an agency not
meeting the requirements of section 42 U.S.C. 7405(c)(1), ``. . . 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 Government.'' These
statutory requirements are repeated in the EPA's implementing
regulations at 40 CFR 35.140-35.148. The EPA issued a memorandum dated
September 30, 2011, entitled ``Updated Information for Determining a
Non-Selective Reduction'' with guidance to recipients on what
constitutes a nonselective reduction. In consideration of the
legislative history, the guidance clarified that a non-selective
reduction does not necessarily mean that each executive branch agency
needs to be reduced in equal proportion. However, it must be clear to
the EPA, from the weight of evidence, that a recipient's CAA-related
air program is not being disproportionately impacted or singled out for
a reduction.
A section 105 grant recipient must submit a final federal financial
report no later than 120 days from the close of its grant period that
documents all of its federal and non-federal expenditures for the
completed period. The recipient seeking an adjustment to its MOE for
that period must provide the rationale and the documentation necessary
to enable the EPA to determine that a nonselective reduction has
occurred. In order to expedite that determination, the recipient must
provide details of the budget action and the comparative fiscal impacts
on all the jurisdiction's executive branch agencies, and the
recipient's air program. The recipient needs to identify any executive
branch agencies or programs that should be excepted from comparison and
explain why. The recipient must provide evidence that the air program
is not being singled out for a reduction or being disproportionately
reduced. Documentation in key areas will be needed: budget data
specific to the recipient's air program; and comparative budget data
between the recipient's air program, the agency containing the air
program, and the other executive branch agencies. The EPA may also
request information from the recipient about how impacts on its program
operations will affect its ability to meet its CAA obligations and
requirements, and documentation that explains the cause of the
reduction, such as legislative changes or the issuance of a new
executive order.
In FY2021, the EPA awarded the HDOH $781,332, which represented
approximately 29% of the HDOH budget. In FY2022, the EPA awarded the
HDOH $884,194, which represented approximately 31% of the HDOH budget.
HDOH's final federal financial report for FY2021 indicated that
HDOH's MOE level was $1,918,582. HDOH expects their FY2022 expenditures
to be approximately $1,645,864, which indicates that HDOH's
expenditures of non-federal funded recurring activities is not
sufficient to meet the MOE requirements for FY2022 under section 105 of
the CAA because it is not equal to or greater than the MOE for the
previous fiscal year.
The EPA must make a determination (after notice and an opportunity
for a public hearing) that the reduction in expenditures from 2021 to
2022 is attributable to a non-selective reduction in the expenditures
in the programs of all executive branch agencies of Hawaii's State
government.
The HDOH is a department organizationally within the Hawaii State
government, which is the unit of government for CAA section 105(c)(2)
purposes.
On July 5, 2022, the HDOH submitted a request to the EPA seeking a
reduction for the required MOE for FY2022 due to a non-selective
reduction in expenditures. The HDOH explained that it will be unable to
meet its MOE
[[Page 49830]]
requirement due to the significant economic and health impacts from the
COVID pandemic. This reduction in recurring expenditures is the result
of HDOH experiencing significant payroll changes impacting its overall
budget. Not only are senior level employees retiring, with some
positions filled by entry level staff at lower starting salaries, other
positions remain vacant due to the conditions caused by the COVID-19
pandemic.
HDOH explained that the reduction is non-selective because the air
program is not being disproportionately impacted or singled out as the
reduction of expenditures due to increased vacancies and inability to
replace staff is occurring throughout the State government, and not
exclusively to the air program. Hawaii is currently experiencing one of
the highest rates of out-migration of its work-age population. State
agencies have lost staff and have struggled to hire new staff to
replace them.
The vacancy data provided by Hawaii's Department of Human Resources
Development (DHRD) and HDOH's Human Resources (HR) shown below supports
the requested MOE reduction by demonstrating that a non-selective
reduction in the expenditures of all executive branch agencies has
occurred. The air program's vacancy rate increased by 3.23%, from
27.42% in 2021 to 30.65% in 2022 and the majority of HDOH's
environmental programs' vacancy rates also increased anywhere from
1.69% to 30.95% during this same time frame. In line with the air
program and the other environmental program vacancy increases, the
vacancy rate for the entire HDOH (which contains the air program and
other environmental programs) increased by 3.88% (from 17.38% to
21.25%) during this period. Overall statewide (executive branch
agencies) position vacancy rates showed an even larger increase of
7.88% from 2021 to 2022. Trends in the HDOH and executive branch agency
data show steady increases in vacancy rates with the largest increase
occurring over the last year. The air program's vacancy rate increase
of 3.23% is slightly smaller than the HDOH's increase of 3.88% and less
than half of the executive branch agency increase of 7.88% over the
past year.
The EPA proposes to find that the request for a reset of HDOH's MOE
meets the requirements for a non-selective reduction under CAA section
105. The HDOH's reduction in personnel expenses and significant cut
back on expenditures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the
reduction in expenditures.
The EPA proposes that the MOE for HDOH's FY2022 CAA section 105
grant be reduced to $1,645,864 to address the non-selective reduction
of recurrent expenditures discussed above.
This notice constitutes a request for public comment and an
opportunity for public hearing as required by the CAA. All written
substantive comments received by September 12, 2022 on this proposal
will be considered. The EPA will conduct a public hearing on this
proposal only if a written request for such is received by the EPA by
September 12, 2022. If no written request for a hearing is received or
if the EPA determines that the issues raised are insubstantial, the EPA
will proceed to reduce HDOH's MOE for FY2022.
Dated: August 9, 2022.
Elizabeth Adams,
Director, Air and Radiation Division, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-17481 Filed 8-11-22; 8:45 am]
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