Clean Air Act Grant; Hawaii Department of Health; Opportunity for Public Hearing, 49828-49830 [2022-17481]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[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]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P