p.2 Jun 0710 06:25a Colleen McKaughan 520498-1333 

GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNlTY
 

Executive Office of tne Governor & iieutel'wnt Govenwr 

1ViLTiam 1{, 'Rfiod"es ] oseyli :Ji,fa'tue( GOVPrIlOl' Lie:lI:l.'nalll GO"~crn,,,,

May 27. 2010 

Lisa Jackson 

USEPA Headquarters 

Ariel Rios Building 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. 

Mail Code: 1101A 

Washington, DC 20460 

RE: Designation Recommendation Process and Consultation for the Gila Ri I'er Indian 

Community under the 1987 24-hour PMIO National Ambient A..ir Qualitv Standard 

(NAAQS). 

Dear Ms. Jackson: 

The Gila River Indian Community ("GRIC" or the "Community") is submitting this letter as a 

response to the December 30, 2009 letter from Mr. Jared Blumenield, Regional ll.dministrator, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency - Region IX. The letter indicates that the l.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency's (EPA) intends to designate portions ofPinal County as a non-attainment area 

for the PMlO National/\mbient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Any designatio-D made by EPA 

under the PM10 NAAQS maypotentially affect the GilaRiver Indian Community's health, economic 

well-being, tribal sovereignty, in addition to the historical and cultural integrity and governmental 

operations. The Commlffiity is unable to submit an accurate designation re;;ommendation, as 

requested in your December 30, 2009 letter, until fonnal consultation, in accorda nce with Clean Air 

Act requirements and EPA commitments made pursuant to Executive Order 1~ 175, is conducted. 

The consultation must include informing Community leadership, Community members and other 

stakeholders on all aspects of the designation process prior to the Commlmity submitting a 

designation recommendation. In addition, any designation review for GRJC req lires assessment of 

all the Community's monitoring data including the flagged exceptional events. EPA Region IX has 

conducted consultation with surrounding jurisdictions (e.g., Maricopa County, Pinal County and 

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) but has conducted no consultation with the 

Community. GRlC is one ofthe few tribal governments in the nation to have recdved full CleanAir 

Act authority "Treatment as a State", including authority for Section 107 (d) designation 

recommendations and should be treated in the same manner as a state for J:urposes of area 

designations. 

525 West Gu u Ki . P.O. Box 97 . Sacaton, Arizona 85147
 

Telephone: 520-562-9840 . Fax: 520-562-9849 . Email: executivemai.l@gric.nsn.us
 
Jun 0710 06:25a Colleen McKaughan 520498-1333 p.3 

The northern third ofthe Community was designated non-attainment for partieulate matters when 

Maricopa County was designated in the 1970's. GRlC was Dot consulted and was not provided an 

opportunity to comment on the bOl.Ul.dary ofthe non-attainment area at that time Establishment of 

the Maricopa County non-att!lil)1Ilent area for PMw, created a crossjurisdictional and legal problem 

because the County and State had no legal or jurisdictional authority to regulGte activities on the 

Community, but the Community could not develop a non-attainment area plan for that part of the 

area that covered Community land because the affected Community land was in attainment for PM1C• 

Through the 8-hour ozone designation process in 2001, EPA corrected this cross jurisdictional! legal 

problem as it applied to the ozone NAAQS when it designated GRlC attaimnenthmclassifiable under 

the 8-hour ozone standard and made GRIC a separate "Air Quality Control Region" based on the 

exterior boundaries ofthe Community. EPA has also informed GRIC ofits inten:to recommend that 

GRIC be designated attainmenlJ1mclassifiable for the PM2.5 NAAQS and made a Beparate Air Quality 

Control Region based on the exterior boundaries ofthe Reservation. GRIC has :-equested that EPA 

take this same approach under the PMIO designation process and designate GR[C lands a separate 

"Air Quality Control Region". The Community is a sovereign government and~PA has a trust and 

legal responsibility to work with GRlC on a government-ta-government basis dU:1ng the designation 

process and that is the purpose of this request. 

During formal consultation, we will oppose the use ofdata from a separate j urise iction as a basis for 

designation. GRIC has a well established monitoring network, an EPA Approved Quality .Assurance 

Project Plan (QAPP). Moreover, the GRlC network is the only Tribal monitori:lg )rogram to have 

undergone and passed a full systems audit from EPA, Region IX. The GRlC Alr Program submits 

all the data collected to the EPA AQS data base after validation. Thus, giverl the robust GRlC 

ambient air quality data base for PMIO, there is no reason for EPA to rely on data from offCommunity monitors as the basis for determining the designation status for GIUe lands. 

Also, during consultation, we will note that EPA Region IX monitoring personne: have been working 

with ADEQ personnel on the evaluation process for data sets flagged by ADEQ as exceptional 

events. EPA Region IX has indicated that the ADEQ data sets being eva~uated as potential 

exceptional events will be used as a basis for approving or disapproving data fla,~ed as exceptional 

events by GRIC. This approach is unacceptable to the Community. The GRIC Air Program has 

flagged a limited number ofdata sets as exceptional events (high wind episodes'W miles per hour or 

greater) over the past three years. To date, EPA has not responded to the data sutmissions flagged as 

exceptional events by GRlC. Section l07(d) ofthe Clean Air Act requires that GRIC be treated in 

the same manner as a state for the purposes of designations. This includes evduating GRIC's air 

quality monitoring data, including data flagged as exceptional events, separate:y from the State of 

Arizona and surrounding jurisdictions. In addition, EPA has not fully explained what type of data 

and support information is needed to allow EPA Region lX monitoring staff to validate GRIC 

exceptional events. Since the designation status ofGRIC lands is completely based on the outcome 

of the exceptional events validation process, EPA Region IX should provide this information and 

work with GRIC Air Program personnel to ensure the correct data is provided. 

In conclusion, the Gila River Indian Community cannot submit a designation f1~C<Jrnmend.ationfor 

the PMIO Nl\AQS at this time because formal consultation with EPA on the designation process 

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p.4 Jun 0710 06:25a Colleen McKaughan 520 498-1333 

must be conducted first. During consultation, GRIC will request that EPA re-evaluate its process of 

using County boundaries as designation boundaries, only rely on monitoring c:ata from the GRlC 

monitoring network as a basis for final designation ofGRJC lands and evaluate data sets flagged as 

exceptional events by GRIe separately from data from the State and surroundirrgJiurisdictions.. 

The Gila River Indian Community is committed to continue to work closely and constructively "vith U~V~lUPt:l.l UC;LVYCCU UIU,-, i:UIU D.l r-\.. VI! CUI '":iUGLUL)' GUl.U VU1\"oJ IrwoUV.LlV.lUu......u...u..& .L~.;)L.,",~.

Sincerely, 

William 

d4~-/~ Rhodes, Governor 

Gila River Indian Community 

cc:Gina McUuthy 

Jared Blumenfeld 

Deborah Jordan 

CoIIeen McKaughan 

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