August 11, 2010 

VIA FACSIMILE AND ELECTRONIC MAIL

Air Docket 

Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0443 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Mail Code: 6102T 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW 

Washington, D.C. 20460 

Email: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov [Attn: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0443] 

Fax: 202-566-9744 [Attn: Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0443] 

Re: EPA’s Lead NAAQS Nonattainment Proposal for Hayden Area, AZ 

 Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0443

To Whom It May Concern: 

 On July 8, 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) 

published in the Federal Register a notice of availability and public comment period 

concerning the EPA’s responses to State and Tribal 2008 lead National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) attainment status designation recommendations. In the 

notice, the EPA invited the public to comment on the responses. 

 The Town of Kearny hereby provides its comments concerning the EPA’s 

proposal to designate the Hayden area in Arizona as being in nonattainment of the 

NAAQS for lead. The EPA’s proposal is available at: 

http://www.epa.gov/leaddesignations/ 2008standards/rec/region9R.html.

 For the reasons explained below, the Town of Kearny believes the Hayden area 

lead nonattainment proposal is unwarranted. We are in receipt of the Zephyr 

Environmental Corporation (Zephyr) report dated August 10, 2010 commissioned by 

ASARCO LLC (Asarco) to review documents relevant to EPA’s nonattainment 

designation proposal and are in the process of conducting our own review of the report. 

Based on the Town of Kearny’s preliminary review of the Zephyr report, it is clear the 

ambient air quality data that are the foundation of the EPA’s nonattainment designation 

proposal were not collected in accordance with applicable quality assurance and quality 
control (“QA/QC”) requirements of regulations that implement the Clean Air Act. These 

rules do not allow data that have not been collected in accordance with applicable 

QA/QC regulations to be used to support a nonattainment designation 

 To the extent necessary to preserve the Town of Kearny’s remedies in any future 

proceeding regarding the nonattainment proposal, the Town of Kearny incorporates 

herein by reference the August 10, 2010 Zephyr report (being submitted separately as 

part of Asarco’s comments), which discusses the QA/QC concerns related to the air 

monitoring data, and adopts the report’s comments as the Town of Kearny’s own. 

 The Town of Kearny is sending this letter with the public health and public 

welfare of our citizens foremost in mind. We note:

 (a) The nonattainment proposal is based on a reported 0.17 μg/m3

 “design 

value,” which exceeds the lead NAAQS of 0.15 μg/m3

 by only 0.02 μg/m3; 

 (b) According to the EPA, the reported exceedance occurred only once, during 

the July through September 2008 three-month averaging period; 

 (c) According to the EPA, there have been no reported exceedances of the lead 

NAAQS since the July through September 2008 period; and 

 (d) The documents from the record indicate the reported exceedance is based 

on data that were generated via the collection and analysis of ambient air samples in a 

manner that did not satisfy QA/QC regulations that, at the time, governed the collection 

and analysis of the samples. 

 The above indicates the data are not a valid representation of the air quality of the 

Hayden area including the Town of Kearny. Therefore, aside from the regulations that 

preclude such data from being used to support a nonattainment designation, it appears the 

data do not represent a risk to the public health. Conversely, the economic consequences 

of an unwarranted NAAQS nonattainment designation could potentially be significant for 

the Town of Kearny, in terms of cost to businesses required to comply with a 

nonattainment designation, employment, new business creation, and local and state tax 

receipts. This action would be in addition to the loss of revenues as a result of the current 

recession and has led to program reductions and eliminations. There would be little or no 

incentive to grow the local economy out of the current situation. 

 Based on the foregoing, the Town of Kearny believes the only appropriate course 

of action with respect to the lead NAAQS attainment status of the Hayden area would be 

for the EPA to designate the area unclassifiable pending the collection of ambient air 

quality data that satisfy the applicable quality assurance requirements. 
 Sincerely, 

 

 Debra Sommers 

 Mayor 

cc (fax): Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator

 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX 

 75 Hawthorne Street 

 San Francisco, California 94105-3901 

 Fax: 415-947-3579