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1Jlhtu1Finghut, IDC!r 20515 

The Honorable Gina McCarthy 

Administrator 

June 10, z014 

United States Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20460 

Dear Administrator McCarthy: 

We are writing to request emergency consideration and issuance of a clarification by the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the interpretation of the "exceptional events" 

provision ofthe Clean Air Act (42 USC§ 7619) to include the current drought in California. 

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency on January 17, 2014, 

due to extreme drought conditions in the state, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has 

designated every county in California as drought disaster areas. These declarations are based on 

record-low precipitation in the 2013 water year and the n01thern California snowpack being at 

only 20 percent of average for that time of year. Specifically in the San Joaquin Valley, 2013 

represented the driest year since the start of record keeping in 1895 and these drought conditions 

are continuing into 2014. In other words, the Valley is experiencing a level of drought not seen 

in. at least II 9 years. 

A direct result of the ongoing drought and the associated weather conditions is that the 

Central Valley will not be able to demonstrate attainment for the 1997 PM2. 5 Standard until at 

least 2016 as a direct result of drought-related air quality exceedences in November and 

December of2013. This is particularly troubling because the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution 

Control District (APCD) has informed us that except for these drought-related exceedences, the 

Central Valley was on track to demonstrate attainment by the end of2014. Thus, our 

constituents will be required to acquire more emission otfsets, driving up infrastructure and other 

project costs, or potenti~lly face the loss of federal transpot1ation funds for critical highway 

projects in the Valley, as a direct result of these unforeseen and uncontrollable drought-related 

air quality impacts. · 

Let us be clear- we supp011 eiTorts to clean up the air in the Central Valley. lt is 

impor1ant to note the most recent A PCD annual report shows that good quality air days tor the 

1997 PM2.5 Standard have steadily increased since 2002, PM2.5 concentrations have 

significantly dropped since 2002, and days over this standard are also down from a high in 2005. 

This is because of the efforts of our families, farmers, and businesses to clean up the air we 

breathe. Furthermore, APCD officials inform us that the Central Valley must still work toward 

compliance with two newer PM2.5 standards, and the California Air Resources Board has 

promulgated or is proposing regulations that mandate the replacement of old, pollution-emitting 

heavy and light duty vehicles and equipment with newer, cleaner models. Therefore, should 

EPA declare the ongoing drought an exceptional event, our constituents still face an extremely 

demanding regulatory environment that will challenge the regions ability to meet its compliance 

requirements. 
We believe it would be wrong to penalize our constituents by failing to declare the 

ongoing drought in California an exceptional event under the Clean Air Act because Mother 

Nature has not blessed our state with rain or snow. We also believe penalizing them for this 

reason is contrary t~ the intent of the Clean Air Act, which specifically allows the exclusion of 

exceptional events when determining National Ambient Air Quality Standards attainment. 

While we understand that the "exceptional events" provision of the Clean Air Act does 

not exclude data obtained from one single meteorological event involving stagnation or lack of 

precipitation, we believe the current drought emergency in California represents a multitude of 

events over a significant duration that would qualify under most interpretations as exceptional. 

Therefore, we urge you to consider a broader interpretation of the Clean Air Act exceptional 

events provisions that would help residents of the California Central Valley and across our state 

reach attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 air quality standards. 

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to your response 

and working with you to ensure our communities are not unfairly penalized and additionally 

impacted due to the current record-breaking drought in our state. 

KEVIN McCARTHY 

House Majority Whip 

DEVI U S 

Member of Congress 

CC: Ms. Janet McCabe 

Sincerely, 

DAVID V ALADAO 

Member of Congress 

Member of Congress 

Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency