UNIT

E D STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

A G ENC
Y REGIONS The Honorable Susana Marti nez Governor

of N e w Mex ico State Capito

l Ro om
4 00 Santa Fe, N ew Mexico 87501 Dear Governor Mart ine z:

144 5 ROSS AVENUE

, SUITE 1200 DALLAS

, TEXAS 75202-2733 August
19, 20 14

Office
of the Regional Administ

r ato

r Thank you for
y our reco mm enda

t io ns dated December

6 , 2013, on air quality designations

for the 2012 revised primary annual fine

p art icle

( PM2 .s) N a ti onal Am
b i ent A
i r Quality Standard

(N AAQS

) throughout

Ne w M exico

, i ncl udi ng Berna lill o County.

I appreciate
the info rmation New Mexico

s hared with the U.S. En viro rime ntal Pro

t ectio

n Agen cy as we move
fo rward
to improve PM 2.s air quality. Thi

s letter

i s to no

t i fy y o u of

t he EPA's pre limi nary resp onse to N ew Mexico's recommendations

an d to inform you of ou
r appr

o ac h for comp
le ting the init ial area desig

n at io ns for the 2012 rev ised primary annual

P M2.

s stan dard. On December

14

, 2012

, the E PA
p romulgat
ed a revised prim ary annual PM 2.s NAAQS (78 FR 3086, Januar

y 15

, 2013

) . In th at acti on, th e EPA rev ise d the pri mary aimual PM 2.s standard,

s trengtheni

ng

i t from 15.0 micro grams per cu bic met er ().Lg /m

3 ) to

1 2.0 ).Lg/m

3
; retained the existing
24 -hour PM 2.s stan dard at 35 ).L g/m

3 ; reta in ed the exis ting 24-hour PM
1o ( coarse

p arti cle) standard

at 150
).L g/m

3 ; and retained the curr ent

s ui te of seco

n dary

P M stand ar ds. The
E PA

r evised the primary ann ua

l PM2

. s s tandard

b ased

o n an

i nteg ra te d assessme

nt of an ex te n siv e bo d y of new sc
i ent

i fic evidence, which subs tantially
str ength

e ns our bod
y of know

l edge regard ing P M2

. s - related

h e alth eff ect s. The revised primary ann ual PM2

.s standard will

p rovide inc rea sed
p r ote ction for children, older adults, pe rsons with pre-existing hea

rt and

l u n g d isease,
an d oth er at - risk populations against
an array of PM2.s-

r e la ted adverse health

e f fects,
in clud in g pr emature morta lit y, increased hospital admiss ions and eme rg ency d e partment visit s, and deve lo pmen

t and ex acer bation of chr onic respi ra t ory di seas e. Hi story shows

u s tha

t better healt

h an d cleaner air go hand-in

-h and with economic growth

. Working closely with

t he sta

t es and tr ibes, the EPA
is im p lementing
the stan
d ards usi n g a common sense approach that im p rove

s air q ua li ty and minim izes the burden on state, local

, and tribal go ve rnment

s. As part of this ro u ti ne p rocess, the E PA is working with the states and tribes
to identify areas in th e country t hat meet

t he st andards and those
th at need

t o take ste p s t o re d uc e PM2

. s air pollution.
Wi thin one year of promulgating

a new or revise

d a i r qual ity sta nda rd

, th e C lean Ai
r Act requires the Governor

o f each state to
s ubmit

t o
t he EPA a l ist o f all areas
in the state, with recommendations

for wheth er ea c h are
a meet

s the standar

d
. As
a first step in imple menti

n g t h e 2 012 annual PM 2.s

s tandard

, Governors were to s ubmit their desi gnat ion re co mme nd ations, including

ap propria

t e area boundaries

, by Decem

b er 13

, 20

1 3. As re quired

b y th e Clean Ai
r Act

, th e EPA then

d esignates

an area as "non atta

i nment"

if it
i s v i o l ating t h e 2012 annual

P M 2
. s NAA QS or if it is co ntribut
in g to a viola

ti on of the NAAQS

i n a nearb

y area. Consis ten

t wi th designat

i ons for previo us PM
2
. s standards,
the EPA

i n t ends to use a d esigna tion Th

i s paper

is printed with vegetable-oi

l - based inks and

I s 1 CO

- pe

r cent postconsumer recycled material

, chlorine

- free

- processed
and recyclable

.categoryof"Wlclassifiable/attainment"forareasthataremonitoringattainmentandforareasthatdonothavemonitorsbutforwhichtheEPAhasreasontobelievearelikelyattainmentandarenotcontributingtonearbyviolations.Additionally,theEPAinten_dstodesignateas"unclassifiable"thoseareaswheretheEPAcannotdeterminebasedonavailableinformationwhethertheareaismeetingornotmeetingtheNAAQSorwheretheEPAhasnotdeterminedthat theareacontributestoanearbyviolation.Atthistime,theEPAisproceedingwithintendedinitialareadesignationsusingquality-assured,certifiedairqualitymonitoringdatafrom2011to2013.WehaveconsideredtheannualPM2.sdesignationrecommendationssubmittedbyNewMexico,includingBernalilloCounty,onDecember6,2013andhavereviewedtherelevant.technicalinformationincluding2011-2013airqualitydata.Thesedatadonotindicateanyviolationofthe2012annualPM2.sNAAQSinNewMexico,includingBernalilloCounty,orcontributiontoanynearbyarea.Accordingly,theEPAintendstomodifyNewMexico'srecommendationofattainmentanddesignateallareasofthestateasunclassifiable/attainment.TheEPAwillmakeitspreliminarydesignationdecisionsandsupportingdocumentationavailabletothegeneralpublicforreviewandcomment.Wewillbeannouncinga30-daypubliccommentperiodshortlyintheFederalRegister.Afterconsideringtheadditionalinformationwereceive,theEPAplanstopromulgatefinalannualPM2.sdesignationsinDecemberof2014.TheEPAiscommittedtoworkingwiththestatesandtribestosharetheresponsibilityofreducingPM2.sairpollution.Currentandupcomingfederalstandardsandsafeguards,includingpollutionreductionrulesforpowerplants,vehiclesandfuels,willassuresteadyprogresstoreducePM2.sformingpollutionandwillprotectpublichealthincommunitiesacrossthecountry.Welookforwardtoacontinueddialoguewithyouandyourstaffasweworktogethertoimplementthe2012annualPM2.sstandard.Ifyouhaveanyquestions,pleasecontactmeat(214)665-2100,orhaveyourstaffcontactMr.GuyDonaldson,ChiefoftheAirPlanningSection,at(214)-665-7242.cc:Pleaseseepage3cc: Mr. R yan Flynn S ecretary, New Mexico Environment Departmen

t Mr. M ichael

V onderheide Dir ecto

r , Env ironment

al Pr o tection Division, New Mexic

o Env

i ronm en
t De p artment Mr

. Rich ar d Go odye

a r Air Qua lity Bureau Chie

f, New Mexico En vironment Departmen

t Ms. _ Mary Lou Leonard Dir ecto

r , Environmental

H ea lt h Departm

e nt , C it y of Albuquerqu

e Ms. Ja net G. McCabe Acti ng Assis

t ant Administrator

for Air and Radiation

, U.S.
E n v ironmental

P rot ect

i o n Agenc

y M r. S t ep h e n D. Pa ge Direc to r , Office of Air Qual

i ty Planning and Standar

d s, U.S. Environm

en ta l Protect

io n Agenc

y