Odd Ball HCM2008 - 571R - H Ver of HCM2008

House Engrossed

EPA; regional offices; move

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

First Regular Session

2025

HOUSE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 2008

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

Urging the President of the united states and the administrator of the united states environmental protection agency to move Arizona from one EPA region to another or to move the regional office to Arizona.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the President of the United States of America and the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the mission of which is to protect human health and the environment, has ten regional offices; and

Whereas, each regional office is responsible for the execution of EPA's programs within several states and territories; and

Whereas, regional offices allow the EPA to address health and environmental concerns in a specific area of the country across a set of commonalities in that area, including environmental, economic, cultural and other conditions in common; and

Whereas, the Pacific Southwest Region, also known as Region 9, includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands and 148 tribal nations; and

Whereas, the regional office for EPA Region 9 is in San Francisco; and

Whereas, the average office rental asking price in Phoenix is less than half that of San Francisco; and

Whereas, the Maricopa Association of Governments, the Maricopa County Air Quality Department, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and other public and private stakeholders in this state have experienced challenges in dealing with EPA administrators who are based out of the EPA Region 9 office in San Francisco; and

Whereas, the current regulatory process requires extensive back-and-forth communication between ADEQ and EPA Region 9 headquarters in San Francisco, significantly delaying decision-making; and

Whereas, Arizona's air and water quality challenges require timely responses that the current structure and location in San Francisco do not provide; and

Whereas, this state's unique environment creates distinct challenges that differ from the challenges of other states in EPA Region 9, including locally uncontrollable emissions associated with international, interstate and natural sources, exception events that contribute to air quality concerns, such as nonattainment for ozone, PM2.5, PM10 and regional haze requirements, water quality issues, such as the EPA's interpretation that waters of the United States extend to ephemeral streams and delays in permitting for aquifer protection permits, and solid waste and hazardous material management, such as delays in approval for underground injection control permits and challenges with hazardous waste disposal and landfill capacity recycling programs; and

Whereas, the current coordination between ADEQ and the EPA on these matters is often inefficient, resulting in delays in addressing contamination sites, approving waste management plans and ensuring compliance with federal regulations; and

Whereas, leadership at the EPA Region 9 office in San Francisco has failed to recognize legitimate natural background sources of ozone precursors, such as from native species indigenous to the Southwest, and international transport of ozone and ozone precursors from other countries and states, including California, Mexico and China, which cannot reasonably be controlled and in the case of native plant species, including shade trees, should not be controlled; and

Whereas, leadership at the EPA Region 9 office has not acted on the revised Maricopa County Air Pollution Control Regulations II ─ Rules 204 and 205, which allow parties in the Phoenix-Mesa nonattainment area to earn nontraditional emission reduction credits for implementing reasonable emission precursor control measures on nontraditional sources and mobile sources, such light and heavy duty vehicles, which are the primary source of ozone emission precursors in some nonattainment areas; and

Whereas, the EPA Region 9 office is failing to meet the needs of and adequately recognize the circumstances in Arizona; and

Whereas, the complexities of Arizona's environmental issues, coupled with the prolonged timeline for rulemaking, state implementation plans and requisite authorizations underscore the necessity of having a dedicated local presence from the EPA in this state; and

Whereas, in prior years, the EPA had a dedicated satellite office in Tucson, Arizona, where Colleen McKaughan served as a local liaison and the associate director for the EPA's Air Division in Region 9; and

Whereas, as a dedicated local liaison, Associate Director McKaughan worked extensively on air quality, tribal and environmental issues in the region, somewhat mitigating Region 9 inefficiencies; and

Whereas, establishing a local EPA presence in Phoenix would help to bridge the gap between Arizona's state, local and tribal agencies and the EPA that currently exists between these important regulatory bodies; and

Whereas, regardless of the specific methods and approaches that the federal government considers to reshape the federal bureaucracy, drastic measures are needed to shake EPA Region 9 from its current inefficiencies and release Arizona from the hold that California currently has on this state and others in EPA Region 9.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1. That the President of the United States and the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) address the impacts of EPA Region 9 on Arizona by strongly considering adopting one of the following strategies, in the following order of preference:

(a) Move the EPA Region 9 office from California to Arizona.

(b) Move Arizona from EPA Region 9 to EPA Region 6 and establish a local office in Arizona consistent with paragraph 2 of this section.

(c) Move Arizona from EPA Region 9 to EPA Region 8 and establish a local office in Arizona consistent with paragraph 2 of this section.

(d) Establish a new EPA region in the Intermountain West consisting of Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah and establish a local office in Arizona consistent with paragraph 2 of this section.

2. That, in addition to selecting their preferred strategy in paragraph 1 of this section, the President of the United States and the EPA Administrator seek to accomplish the following:

(a) Establish and staff a dedicated, local satellite office for the relevant EPA Region in Phoenix.

(b) Appoint to the head of such office an individual from within the appropriate region who will be given a meaningful and prominent position in leadership, with authority and discretion to make decisions on critical regulatory matters, permits and plans that affect this state, such as a director or deputy regional administrator or an equivalent role.

(c) Work with state, local and tribal governments, stakeholders, businesses and members of the regulated community in Arizona to help identify and vet potential candidates for such a role.

3. That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States and the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.