THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIO N AGENCY

The Honorable Nathan Small Cha irman WASH I NGTON, D .C

. 20460



### ~.DEC 

### 1 

## 8 2014

Fort Hall Bu si ness Council of Shoshone -B annock Tribes

ofthe Fort H a ll Reservation P.O. Box 306 Fort Hall , Id aho 83203 Dear Chairman Fort Hall Bu siness Council Small: I would like to summa ri ze the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent action to address fineparticle pollution on your re serv ation. As required by the Clean Air Act, the EPA has determined which areas are meeting the n ational ambient-air-quality standards for fin e-p article pollution and which areas must take steps to reduce emissions that contribute to vio lation s of the standard. The E PA on December 14 ,20 1 2, strengthened the annual , health-based fine-particl e standard from 15.0 microgram s per cubic m eter ( !J. g/m 3) to 12.0 !J.g/m3

. Thousand s of scientific studies have linked exposu r e t o these tiny particles -appro x imately l/30th the s ize of a human hair- with se riou s health problem s including premature death in peop le with heart and lung di sease , nonfatal heart attacks and increased hospital admi s sions and doctor and emergency- room visits for respiratory a nd card iovascular disease. I appreciate th e information you and your staff have shared with the EPA throughout this proce ss to assess fine-particle-pollution leve ls in communitie s across your re servation and the impact of emi ss ion sources that cou ld be contributing to unhealthy air. After cons idering your recommendations, reviewing the mo s t recen t certi fied fine-particle air-quality data for your reservation and evaluating factors to assess contri butio n to nearb y levels of fine-particle pollution , I have determined that no area w ithin the Shoshone-Bannock T rib es ofthe Fort Hall Reservation violates the 2012 standard or contributes to a nearby violation of the standard. As a result, the EPA is designating all of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes ofthe Fort Hall Reservation "un classifiable /attainment." Because ai r-qu a li ty monitoring for 2014 i s nearly comp lete , the EPA , at a tribe's request, will evaluate the status of an area based on its annual fine-particle-monitoring data for 2012-14. If you would like the EPA to re-evaluate any areas within your reservation , please s ubmit complete , quality-assured and certified a ir-quality data for 2014 to the EPA by Febr uary 27 , 2015. I recognize that the EPA shares responsibility with the s tates and tribes for managing part icl e-po lluti on levels. Efforts by states and tribes to attain the 1997 and 2006 fine-particle-pollution standa rd s are already working to redu ce unhealthy levels of fine-particle pollution. In add ition , current and upcoming federal standards and safeguards, includin g pollution-reduction rules for po wer plants, vehicles and fue ls

This paper is printed with vegetable-oil-based inks and is 100-percent postconsumer recycled material. chlorine-free-processed and recyclable

.will ensure steady reduction s of fine-particle pollution and will protect public health in communities across the nation. Together we have made considerable progress in reducing fine -p article pollution. Nat i onw ide monitored levels of fine-particle pollution have fallen 34 percent since 2000 when we first began such monitoring for particles of this size. I am confident this progress will continue as we work toward our shared goal of clean air.

For additional information about these designations , please visit www.epa.gov / pmdesignations.