49-405

49-405. Attainment area designations

A. The governor may designate the status and classification of areas of this state
with respect to attainment of national ambient air quality standards.

B. The director shall adopt rules that both:

1. Describe the geographic extent of attainment, nonattainment or unclassifiable
areas of this state for all pollutants for which a national ambient air quality standard
exists.

2. Establish procedures and criteria for changing the designations of areas that
include all of the following:

(a) Technical bases for proposed changes, including ambient air quality data, types
and distributions of sources of air pollution, population density and projected
population growth, transportation system characteristics, traffic congestion, projected
industrial and commercial development, meteorology, pollution transport and political
boundaries.

(b) Provisions for review of and public comment on proposed changes to area
designations.

C. On promulgation by the administrator of new or revised national ambient air
quality standards for pollutants, the department shall develop proposed recommendations
regarding designations for geographic areas of this state as being in attainment or
nonattainment or unclassifiable with respect to that standard. The proposed
recommendations shall be provided to the governor to assist the governor in submitting
recommendations to the administrator pursuant to 42 United States Code section
7407(d)(1)(A). The department shall develop the proposed recommendations as follows:

1. No earlier than five months before the date by which the governor must make the
recommendations and no later than four months before that date, the department shall
complete a draft of the proposed recommendations and a technical support document that
explains the scientific and other bases for the draft proposal.

2. No earlier than five months before the date by which the governor must make the
recommendations and no later than four months before that date, the department shall post
the draft proposed recommendations and technical support document on the department's
website. The department shall provide actual notice of the posting to counties and
municipalities that would be included in a nonattainment area under the proposed
recommendations and to any person who had previously requested actual notice of the draft
documents. Actual notice of the posting may be provided by electronic or other means.

3. The website posting and actual notices prescribed in paragraph 2 of this
subsection shall include notice that until the close of the comment period, any person
may submit written comments to the department regarding the draft proposed
recommendations and technical support document. The notice shall also include the date,
time and location of a public hearing for the department to receive verbal comments and
answer questions concerning the draft proposal. The written comment period shall close
and the hearing shall be held no later than forty-six days before the date by which the
governor must make the recommendations.

4. After the close of the comment period and after the public hearing and not later
than one month before the date by which the governor must make the recommendations, the
department shall finalize the proposed recommendations and technical support document and
submit them to the governor. The department's final proposed recommendations and
technical support document shall:

(a) Consider the comments received by the department pursuant to paragraph 3 of
this subsection. For any area that is proposed to be designated a nonattainment area in
the final proposed recommendations, the department shall with the submittal to the
governor include a responsiveness summary that explains with reasonable particularity the
department's consideration of and responses to comments received pursuant to paragraph 3
of this subsection.

(b) Be posted on the department's website within five days after the department's
submittal to the governor. The posting shall include any responsiveness summary, and the
department shall provide actual notice of the posting to counties and municipalities that
would be included in a nonattainment area under the final proposed recommendations and to
any person who had previously requested actual notice of the documents. Actual notice of
the posting may be provided by electronic or other means.

D. The department shall post on its website a copy of the governor's
recommendations within five days after the recommendations are submitted to the
administrator.

E. If the administrator requires the governor's recommendations to be submitted six
months after promulgation of the new or revised national ambient air quality standards or
earlier, the time frames prescribed in subsections C and D shall be reduced by one-half.