TOWN OF HAYDEN

P.O. Box B • 520 Velasco Avenue> Hayden, Arizona 85235· (520) 356-7801 • Fax (520) 356-6334

CSIMILE AND ELECTRONIC MAIL

Air Docket

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

Environmental Protection Agency

Mail Code: 6l02T

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 ("NAAOS") attainment status designation recommendations. In the

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

The Town of Hayden 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 Hayden 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 Hayden'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 ("OAlOC") 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 Hayden's remedies in any future

proceeding regarding the nonattainment proposal, the Town of Hayden 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 Hayden's own.
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TOWN OF HAYDEN

P.O. Box B' 520 Velasco Avenue' Hayden, Arizona 85235' (520) 356-7801· Fax (520) 356-6334

The Town of Hayden 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 ug/nr' "design

value," which exceeds the lead NAAQS of 0.15 ug/rrr' by only 0.02 ug/rrr';

(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. 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 Hayden, in

terms of cost to businesses required to comply with a nonattainment designation,

employment and local and state tax receipts.

Based on the foregoing, the Town of Hayden 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,

;II~c1fdlt UJfav~

Maria Munoz;

Vice Mayor

Monica Badillo,

Mayor

cc (next page)

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