MORONGO 

BAND OF 

MISSION 

INDIANS 

June 18, 2009 

Deborah Jordan 

•

ASOVEREIGN NATION 

Director, Air Division 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX 

75 Hawthorne Street 

San Francisco, CA 94105-3901 

Re:	 Request for Participation in Process for Designation of Separate Tribal 

Nonattainment Area for the Morongo Indian Reservation 

Dear Ms. Jordan: 

This will respond, on behalf of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians ("Morongo" or 

"Tribe"), to the Regional Administrator's letter of January 13, 2009 and a more recent 

contact from your agency encouraging the Tribe to participate in the process for 

designating areas under the 2008 revised ozone national ambient air quality standards 

(NAAQS). 

As you know, Morongo recently submitted a letter on May 29,2009, along with 

supporting rationale and documentation, requesting creation of a separate 

nonattainment area for the Morongo Indian Reservation. In that letter, Morongo 

addressed in detail each of the nine factors that the Environmental Protection Agency 

("EPA") plans to consider in evaluating and making decisions on nonattainment area 

boundaries, as discussed in EPA's December 4,2008 memorandum entitled "Area 

Designations for the 2008 Revised Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards" 

("December 2008 Memo"). Previously, Morongo had also requested consultation with 

your agency regarding its review of the State of California's request to reclassify 

("bump-up") the ozone nonattainment classification of the South Coast Air Basin 

("SOCAB"), which currently includes the Reservation, from "severe 17" to "extreme." In 

our letter of October 7, 2008 requesting consultation, we stated the reasons why such a 

reclassification would negatively impact Morongo's efforts to develop a tribal air permit 

program and to engage in economic development on the Reservation. Our more recent 

letter requesting creation of a separate nonattainment area for the Reservation 

elaborates on those reasons and provides additional justification for EPA to modify the 

State's nonattainment area designations for ozone under the 2008 Revised NAAQS by 

12700 PUMARRA WAD 3i\NNINC c~ 92220 
excluding the Reservation from the SOCAB and creating a separate tribal nonattainment 

area. We also made it clear that, should EPA determine that creation of a separate 

tribal nonattainment area was not approvable, the boundary of the Coachella Valley 

Nonattainment Area should be adjusted to include the Reservation. In short, Morongo 

has significant interests at stake in both the designation of areas for purposes of 

implementing the 2008 revised primary and secondary ozone NAAQS and the 

reclassification of those nonattainment areas. 

For the reasons stated above and in our recent letter of May 29,2009, we recommend 

that the SOCAB ozone nonattainment boundary be adjusted to exclude the Morongo 

Indian Reservation and that a separate nonattainment area be created for the 

Reservation. Our recommendation is consistent with the December 2008 Memo's 

suggested framework for area-specific analyses and supports creation of a 

nonattainment area for the Reservation, the boundaries of which are distinct from lithe 

presumptive area starting point." See December 2008 Memo, at p. 3. 

Thank you for your attention to our concerns. We look forward to active participation 

and consultation with your agency as it implements the ozone nonattainment area 

designation and classification processes. 

Since:~~.

ICL-J~ ­ I 

Robert Martin, Chairman 

Morongo Band of Mission Indians 

cc:	 Liz Bogdanski, Director, Environmental Protection Department 

Colleen McKaughan, EPA Region IX 

Stephen Quesenberry, Karshmer & Associates 

Gary Rubenstein, Sierra Research