Document ID: EPA-R02-OAR-2023-0370-0003
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Air Pollution Control: Proposed Administrative Action on Clean Air Act Grant to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources
Posted Date: 2023-07-31T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 145 (Monday, July 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49461-49462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16114]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R02-OAR-2023-0370; FRL-11172-01-R2]

Air Pollution Control; Proposed Administrative Action on Clean 
Air Act Grant to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and 
Environmental Resources

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed administrative action to revoke a grant; request for 
comments; and notice of opportunity for public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is proposing to revoke the Fiscal Year 2019 Clean Air 
Act (CAA) section 105 grant awarded to the Puerto Rico Department of 
Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) because it has failed to 
satisfy the statutory maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement for that 
year. The EPA is providing prior notice of its intent to revoke 
PRDNER's Fiscal Year 2019 Clean Air Act section 105 grant. When the 
proposed action is final, PRDNER will be eligible to receive future CAA 
section 105 grants to support its air pollution control program.

DATES: Comments and/or requests for a public hearing must be received 
by EPA at the address stated below by August 30, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R02-
OAR-2023-0370 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at 
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public 
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Proprietary Business Information (PBI) or Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the 
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish 
to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment 
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, 
cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission 
methods, please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public comment policy, 
information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance 
on making effective comments, please visit

[[Page 49462]]

https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. If you need 
assistance in a language other than English or if you are a person with 
disabilities who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, 
please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmen R. Guerrero P[eacute]rez, 
Director, Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, United States 
Environmental Protection Agency--Region 2, City View Plaza II--Suite 
700, #48 Rd. 165 km 1.2, Guaynabo, PR 00968-8069. Telephone (787) 977-
5802, Email Address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) 
provides grant funding for the continuing air programs of eligible 
State, local, and Tribal agencies. In accordance with 40 CFR 35.145(a), 
the Regional Administrator may provide air pollution control agencies 
up to three-fifths of the approved costs of implementing programs for 
the prevention and control of air pollution. CAA section 105 grants 
require two types of cost share requirements, a match requirement and 
an MOE requirement. An eligible agency must meet a minimum 40% match. 
In addition, to remain eligible for CAA section 105 grants, an eligible 
agency must meet an MOE requirement under section 105(c)(1) of the CAA, 
42 U.S.C. 7405(c)(1).
    Program activities relevant to the match consist of both recurring 
and non-recurring (unique, one-time only) expenses. The MOE provision 
requires that a state or local agency spend at least the same dollar 
level of funds as it did in the previous grant year, but only for the 
costs of recurring activities. Specifically, section 105(c)(1) of the 
CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7405(c)(1), provides that, ``No agency shall receive any 
grant under this section during any fiscal year when its expenditures 
of non-Federal funds for recurrent expenditures for air pollution 
control programs [maintenance of effort or MOE level] will be less than 
its expenditures were for such programs during the preceding fiscal 
year.'' The EPA's implementing regulations at 40 CFR 35.146(a) 
reiterate the CAA section 105(c)(1) MOE requirement.
    Although the PRDNER has successfully completed a portion of its 
Fiscal Year 2019 air pollution control program, PRDNER has faced 
challenges that have impacted its ability to meet the statutory MOE 
requirement for its Fiscal Year 2019 CAA section 105 grant. By letter 
to the EPA dated May 15, 2023, PRDNER explained that compliance with 
the MOE has been a challenge due to natural events that affected Puerto 
Rico such as hurricanes and earthquakes and the interruptions to the 
operations of the Government of Puerto Rico due to the COVID-19 
pandemic. The restrictions imposed by the Department of Health to 
prevent or reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure affected PRDNER's 
performance of grant workplan tasks. These factors combined with fiscal 
constraints and the lack of sufficient human resources to complete the 
grant workplan tasks created an MOE shortfall. Since PRDNER did not 
satisfy the statutory requirement for the maintenance of effort for 
Fiscal Year 2019, EPA intends to revoke PRDNER's Fiscal Year 2019 CAA 
section 105 grant. Pursuant to section 105(e) of the CAA, the EPA is 
providing prior notice of its intent to revoke PRDNER's Fiscal Year 
2019 CAA section 105 grant. The proposed administrative action does not 
otherwise impact the air pollution control program already carried out 
by PRDNER during Fiscal Year 2019, which ended on September 30, 2019.
    This notice constitutes a request for public comment and an 
opportunity for public hearing as required by CAA section 105(e) and 
EPA's implementing regulations at 40 CFR 35.148(b). All written 
comments received by August 30, 2023 on this proposal will be 
considered. EPA will conduct a public hearing on this proposal if EPA 
finds, based on written requests for a public hearing, that the issues 
raised are substantial or a significant degree of public interest in 
this proposal has been expressed; written requests for a hearing must 
be received by EPA at the address above by August 30, 2023. If no 
written request for a hearing is received or if EPA determines that the 
issues raised are insubstantial or no significant degree of public 
interest in this proposed action has been expressed, EPA will proceed 
to the final action on this grant.

Lisa Garcia,
Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 2023-16114 Filed 7-28-23; 8:45 am]
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