UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION IX 75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105·3901

OFFICE OF THE 

## JUN 2 92011 REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR

The Honorable Robert H. Smith Chairman Pala Band ofMission Indians Private Mail Box 50 35008 Pala Temecula Road Pala, California 92059 DearChairman Smith: Thank you for your recommendation on the air quality designation for the revised primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for nitrogen dioxide (NO

### z)on behalfofthe Pala Band of Mission Indians. This letter is to notify you ofthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) preliminary decision to designate the Pala Reservation as unclassifiable/attainment and to inform you of our approach for completing the designations for the revised NO

### zNAAQS. On January 22, 2010, the EPA strengthened the health-based NAAQS for NO

### zby setting a new I-hour NO

### zstandard at the level of 100 parts perbillion (ppb). The EPA also retained with no change, the annual average NO

### zstandard of53 ppb. This suite ofstandards will protectpublic health by limiting people's exposures to short-term peak concentrations ofNO

### zand by limiting community-wide NO

### z concentrations to levels below those that have been linked to respiratory-related emergencydepartment visits and hospital admissions in the United States. In our November 2010 letter to you requesting designation recommendations, the EPA stated that it expected to designate most areas as "unclassifiable," indicating that there are insufficient data to determine whether or not an area is attaining the revised NO

### zNAAQS. This approach took into account that the new monitoring networkrequirements established with the revised NO

### zNAAQS will not be in place until January 2013 and that air quality data from these new monitors would not be available to inform these initial designations. The EPA has reviewed your recommendations and intends to designate the Pala Reservation as "unclassifiable/attainment" rather than "unclassifiable." While the EPA acknowledges that the existing NO

### zmonitoring network does notprovide adequate evidence to determine whether or not the new NAAQS is met in all areas, there currently is no evidence ofviolations anywhere. The "unclassifiablel attainment" designation betterreflects the current air quality conditions. TheEPA intends to redesignate areas, as appropriate, after sufficient air quality data from the new monitoring network are available. Ifyou have additional information that you want the EPA to consider with respect to the designation of the Pala Reservation, please submitit to us by August 29, 2011. We are also making the EPA's preliminary designation decisions and supporting documentation available to the general public for review. We are accepting public comments on ourpreliminary decisions for 30days after a notice

Printed on Recycled Papl'rannouncing the public commentperiod is published in the 

### FederalRegister. We will review any information we receive from you and the general public by this date, and we plan to promulgate the final designations by October 31, 2011. We look forward to a continued dialogue with you and your staffas we work together to implement the 2010 NOzNAAQS. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me, orhave your staff contact Colleen McKaughan ofmy staffat 520-498-0118. Sincerely,

cc: Shasta Gaughen, Pala EPA Director