United States Environmental Protection Agency 

Regional Administrator 

Harold Frank, Chairman 

Forest County Potawatomi Community 

P.O. Box 340 

Crandon, Wisconsin 54520 

Dear Chairman Frank: 

RegionS 

77 West Jackson Boulevard 

Chicago, IL 60604-3590 

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with additional information concerning the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency's designations process for the 2012 primary annual Particulate Matter 

(PM2s) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Area recommendations for the PM2.s 

NAAQS were due to EPA on December 13, 2013; at that time we received your designation 

recommendation of attainment/unclassifiable. We want to ensure early, transparent and effective 

conm1unication in developing area designations for the revised annual PM2.5 standard. We will keep 

you informed as we fmalize designations for your tribe's area. Please notify us by June 13, 2014 if 

you are interested in consulting with us regarding a recommended designation. When requested, 

consultation will be conducted in accordance with the EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination 

with Indian Tribes (www.epa.gov/tribal/consultation!consult-policy.htrn). 

On December 13, 2012, EPA revised the primary annual NAAQS for PM2.s to provide increased 

protection of public health from fine particle pollution. The new annual PM2.s standard was 

strengthened from 15 ug/m3 to 12 ug/m3

• Establishing initial area designations is a key step in the 

process of providing the health and/or welfare protection intended by the Clean Air Act (CAA). Within 

two years of promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, EPA must list and designate all areas in the 

country as either: 

Attaimnent-areas that meet the standard; 

N onattainment-areas that either do not meet the standard, or are contributing to a nearby area 

that does not meet the standard; or 

Unclassifiable--areas where there is insufficient information to make a determination as to 

attainment. 

These designations are based on current air quality information, recommendations from tribal leaders 

and state governors, and other relevant information as discussed in the April 2013 designations guidance 

on Initial Area Designations for the 2012 Revised Primary Annual Fine Particle National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard. The guidance is currently available on the EPA's PM Designations website at 

http :1 /www. epa. gov /pmdesignations/20 12standards/ docs/ april20 13 guidance. pdf. Additional information 

about developing tribal air quality designations is available in the September 2013 document Developing 

Recycled/ Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Recyckd Paper (100% Post-Consumer) 
2 

Designation Recommendations for Areas of Indian Country, which is available here: 

http://www.epa.gov/air/tribal/pdfs/DevelopingaDesignationRecommendationforindianCountry.pdf. 

We plan to formally announce our intended designations for all areas by August 14,2014. At that time 

we will send another letter to you with our intended designation and offer an additional opportunity to 

consult with us on any modifications that EPA proposes to make to your tribe's recommendation. 

In accordance with section 1 07( d) (1 )(B) of the CAA, we are required to issue final designations for the 

primary annual PM2.s NAAQS no later than December 12, 2014. Our designations will be based on the 

most recent three calendar years of certified, quality-assured monitoring data available, and any other 

relevant information. 

If your tribe is interested in consultation or has questions about the designations process, please do not 

hesitate to contact me or Carolyn Persoon of my staff at (312) 353-8290 or persoon.carolyn@epa.gov. 

Sincerely, 

Susan Hedman 

Regional Administrator 

cc: Frank Shepard, Deputy Natural Resources Administrator, Forest County Potawatomi Community 

Natalene Cummings, Air Quality Program Manager, Forest County Potawatomi Community