Jump to main content.

Gila River's Air Quality Management Plan (PDF 292 pp, 1,471 KB)

Gila River's Tribal Implementation Plan (TIP)

Project Description:
     The EPA's adoption of 40 C.F.R. Part 49, the Tribal Authority Rule, generally authorizes eligible tribes to exercise the same rights and have the same responsibilities as states under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Gila River Indian Community applied for and received authority in 1998 to implement applicable elements of the CAA for air quality management within the Community. In August of 2002, the GRIC Council approved the first section of the Tribal Implementation Plan for air quality management. The first section contains the following:

1. Definitions - Definitions of terms used throughout the document
2. General Authorities - The first ordinance gives GRIC the authority to implement the TIP. The TIP will meet the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act to protect and preserve air quality within the Community. This shall be accomplished by regulating sources of air pollution within the Community (primarily industrial) and will continually monitor the quality of the outdoor air for six key pollutants (see #4) to ensure that health standards for air quality are met.
3. Procedures for Preparation, Adoption, and Submittal of the TIP - This ordinance sets forth the procedures for adopting the TIP. The DEQ will provide notice to the Communtiy of any public hearings on the TIP as well as provide an opportunity for comment prior to submission of the TIP to the EPA. In addition, the Natural Resources Standing Committee and Community Council will have input and final authority to approve each of the ordinances in the TIP.
4. Adoption of National Ambient Air Quality Standards as Community Standards - This ordinance adopts the National Air Quality Standards for six key pollutants: sulfur dioxide, ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter. These standards were established by the EPA to protect human health and welfare.
The second section of the TIP, currently being drafted, will contain provisions on enforcement and permitting. The third and final section will contain individual ordinances for Community area and point sources. Gila River's primary purpose for developing a TIP is to provide a regulatory structure for minor industrial sources that are currently not permitted by the tribe nor EPA; at this time EPA permits only major sources in Indian Country. The Community also plans to include major source (Title V) permitting as part of the TIP. The majority of GRIC's industry is located in the serious nonattainment area for CO, PM10 and Ozone and therefore is subject to the rigorous regulatory requirements imposed on major sources in these "dirty air" areas. The TIP will provide an avenue for the tribe to permit industry that would otherwise be considered a major source by establishing a "Synthetic Minor" permit program. This allows setting restrictions, such as limited hours of operation, and basing permit requirements on actual emissions rather than potential emissions (as is currently required).

Area Designation Recommendations
To determine if an airshed is meeting established health standards, scientific air monitoring data must be collected for a three year period. This data is assessed and verified, along with other applicable criteria, then a state or tribe makes a recommendation to EPA as to the status of the airshed. EPA then classifies the area as meeting the standard (attainment), not meeting the standard (nonattainment), or unclassifiable (insufficient data to make a determination.) Gila River has submitted three designation recommendations (the most recent being July 14th, 2003) for ozone to EPA since September, 1999. Since EPA lacked actual data to make the initial nonattainment designation over twenty years ago, the Community recommends that all of GRIC be designated "unclassifiable" until the required data is collected. Gila River has few if any sources that make a measurable impact on air quality on or off the reservation. Also, geographical as well as meteorological factors help limit the amount of transported pollution from the Phoenix urban area. The GRIC DEQ currently has one year of ozone data collected from two monitoring sites within the Community. Initial data indicates the ambient air at Gila River is meeting established health standards. Nonattainment areas call for rigorous regulatory requirements for industry and impose strict standards on their emissions. In an area where air quality is a threat to human health, these requirements make good sense and can have a measurable impact on air quality management. But the GRIC contends that the EPA never established that the Community's air quality was compromised to begin with, so holding GRIC to stricter standards intended for "dirty air" areas is unfair as well as unproductive. Also, such nonattainment regulatory requirements imposed on industry have the potential to negatively affect economic development on tribal lands where, in many cases, it is desperately needed.

Contact:
     Janet Travis
     (520) 562 2234
     jtravis@gilanet.net

 

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.