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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

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REGION IX

PRO1 75 Hawthorne Street

San Francisco, CA 94105.3901

OFFICE OF THE

REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR

APR 212014

The 1-lonorable Janice K. Brewer

Governor of Arizona

1700 West Washington Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Dear Governor Brewer:

The purpose of this letter is to notify you that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

intends to redesignate the 1—layden area as “nonattainment” for the 2008 lead (Pb) national

ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). Reducing levels of lead pollution is an important part of

the EPA’s commitment to a clean, healthy environment. Lead exposure can cause a range of

adverse health effects, most notably in children. Exposures to low levels of lead early in life have

been linked to effects on Intelligence Quotient, learning, memory, and behavior. In order to

ensure that public health and welfare are protected, the EPA revised the lead NAAQS on October

15, 2008, lowering it from the 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter (ig/m 3)level set in 1978 to a

level of 0.15 ig/m 3.

On .lune 12, 2013, I sent you a letter informing you that the EPA had determined that a revised

designation for the 2008 Pb NAAQS would be necessary for the 1-layden area. Our determination

was based on violations of the Pb NAAQS recorded in the 1-layden area. Thank you for your

September 25, 2013 letter, in which you noted the installation of additional pollution controls at

the Asarco Hayden copper smelter and recommended that the area retain its unclassifiable

designation unless additional violations occurred. We have reviewed your recommendation and

evaluated the technical support document submitted by the Arizona Department of

Environmental Quality on October 4, 2013. We have also considered more recent monitoring

data recorded at ADEQ’s Globe 1-Jighvay monitor along with additional ambient air quality data

gathered by Asarco’s more extensive monitoring network in the late summer and fall of 2013.

Based on our review of the available information, the 1-layden area is violating the Pb standard.

Accordingly, we are proposing to redesignate the Hayden area to nonattainment, as described in

the enclosed analysis. A pre-publication copy of the notice inviting public comment on our

proposal is also enclosed. It will be published in the Federal Register in the near future. Should

you have additional information that you wish to be considered by the EPA in this process,

please provide it to us by June 20, 2014, as we intend to make a final decision regarding

redesignation for the Hayden area for the 2008 PbNAAQS in July 2014.

Printed on Recycled Paper
If after considering public comment, we finalize our redesignation for the Pb NAAQS for the

Hayden area, the EPA will work with your staff to develop an appropriate state implementation

plan to assure the public health protections intended by the standard. Your air quality staff may

wish to contact Deborah Jordan, Air Division Director at 415-947-8715 or Colleen McKaughan.

Associate Air Division Director at 520-498-0118.

Sincerely,

Jared Blumenfeld

Enclosures

cc: Henry Darwin. Director, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

Eric Massey, Air Director, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

Michael Sundhloorn, Director, Pinal County Air Pollution Control District

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