8952 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 39 / Thursday, February 27, 1997 / Notices

All interested persons and Staff are

permitted to attend.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–4818 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5695–6]

Air Pollution Control; Proposed

Actions on Clean Air Act Grants to the

Ventura County Air Pollution Control

District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed determination with

request for comments and notice of

opportunity for public hearing.

SUMMARY: The U.S. EPA has made a

proposed determination that a reduction

in expenditures of non-Federal funds for

the Ventura County Air Pollution

Control District (APCD) in Ventura,

California is the result of a non-selective

reduction in expenditures. This

determination, when final, will permit

Ventura County APCD to keep the

financial assistance awarded to it by

EPA for FY–96 under section 105(c) of

the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: Comments and/or requests for a

public hearing must be received by EPA

at the address stated below by March 31,

1997.

ADDRESSES: All comments and/or

requests for a public hearing should be

mailed to: Sara Bartholomew, Grants

and Program Integration Office (AIR–8),

Air Division, U.S. EPA Region 9, 75

Hawthorne Street, San Francisco,

California 94105–3901; FAX (415) 744–

1076.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara

Bartholomew, Grants and Program

Integration Office (AIR–8), Air Division,

U.S. EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne

Street, San Francisco, California 94105–

3901 at (415) 744–1250.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the

authority of Section 105 of the CAA,

EPA provides financial assistance

(grants) to the Ventura County APCD,

whose jurisdiction includes Ventura

County in southern California, to aid in

the operation of its air pollution control

programs. In FY–96, EPA awarded the

Ventura County APCD $1,398,500,

which represented approximately 22%

of Ventura’s budget.

Section 105(c)(1) of the CAA, 42

U.S.C. 7405(c)(1), provides that ‘‘[n]o

agency shall receive any grant under

this section during any fiscal year when

its expenditures of non-Federal funds

for recurrent expenditures for air

pollution control programs will be less

than its expenditures were for such

programs during the preceding fiscal

year. In order for [EPA] to award grants

under this section in a timely manner

each fiscal year, [EPA] shall compare an

agency’s prospective expenditure level

to that of its second preceding year.’’

EPA may still award financial assistance

to an agency not meeting this

requirement, however, if EPA, ‘‘after

notice and opportunity for public

hearing, determines that a reduction in

expenditures is attributable to a nonselective reduction in the expenditures

in the programs of all Executive branch

agencies of the applicable unit of

Government.’’ CAA Section 105(c)(2).

These statutory requirements are

repeated in EPA’s implementing

regulations at 40 CFR section 35.210(a).

In its FY–96 Section 105 application,

which EPA reviewed in early 1996, the

Ventura County APCD projected

expenditures of non-Federal funds for

recurrent expenditures (or its

maintenance of effort (MOE)) of

$4,905,690. This projected MOE was not

sufficient to meet the MOE requirements

of the CAA, i.e. it was not equal to or

greater than the MOE for the previous

year (FY–95), which was $4,928,948

according to the Financial Status Report

(FSR) for FY–95. Furthermore, in

January of 1997 the Ventura County

APCD submitted to EPA the FSR for

FY–96, which shows that the actual FY–

96 MOE was $4,588,325. This amount

represents a shortfall of $340,623 from

the MOE for FY–95. In order for the

Ventura County APCD to be eligible to

keep its FY–96 grant, EPA must make a

determination under § 105(c)(2).

The Ventura County APCD is a singlepurpose agency whose primary source

of funding is emission fee revenue. It is

the ‘‘unit of Government’’ for § 105(c)(2)

purposes. The reason for the lower MOE

level in FY–96 is a series of efficiencies

that Ventura County APCD has

implemented. Ventura has provided to

Region 9 documentation which shows

that it has been able to reduce its

administrative expenditures in its

programs through cost saving measures

which do not affect the performance of

its air programs or reduce its

expenditures for substantive

environmental program activities. For

example, Ventura has reduced indirect

costs paid to the County by $95,000 and

reduced the need for outside contracts

by $70,000 by getting weather forecast

information free from the Internet.

These cost saving measures were taken

not because fee revenues had declined,

but because Ventura wanted to operate

more efficiently.

Fee revenues in Ventura APCD are,

however, projected to decrease

significantly over the next few years

because emissions will decrease. In

order to avoid a future shortfall in

revenue, Ventura has taken the savings

generated by the efficiencies and placed

them in a savings or dedicated reserve

account. This account is dedicated to

support only the District’s air program,

and would be used to cover shortfalls in

meeting its MOE requirement in future

years, as needed.

Consistent with the 105 program

requirements, Ventura will not use

federal funds to supplant local funds

that are currently available for the

program. The district will continue to

operate its program at its current level

as long as the fee revenues continue at

their present pace. If the revenues drop,

the district will tap the savings or

reserve account to supplement fee

revenue losses.

In summary, Ventura County APCD’s

MOE reductions resulted from a series

of efficiency measures and the district

has created a strategy to offset projected

future loss of fee revenues with current

savings. EPA proposes to determine that

the Ventura County APCD’s lower FY–

96 MOE level meets the Section

105(c)(2) criteria as resulting from a

non-selective reduction of expenditures.

Pursuant to 40 CFR Section 35.210, this

determination will allow the Ventura

County APCD to keep the funds

received from EPA for FY–96.

This notice constitutes a request for

public comment and an opportunity for

public hearing as required by the Clean

Air Act. All written comments received

by March 31, 1997 on this proposal will

be considered. EPA will conduct a

public hearing on this proposal only if

a written request for such is received by

EPA at the address above by March 31,

1997.

If no written request for a hearing is

received, EPA will proceed to the final

determination. While notice of the final

determination will not be published in

the Federal Register, copies of the

determination can be obtained by

sending a written request to Sara

Bartholomew at the above address.

Dated: February 11, 1997.

David P. Howekamp,

Director, Air and Toxics Division, U.S. EPA,

Region 9.

[FR Doc. 97–4891 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P