§ 35.205 - Maximum Federal share.

(a) The Regional Administrator may provide State, local, interstate, or intermunicipal agencies up to three-fifths of the approved costs of implementing programs for the prevention and control of air pollution or implementing national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards. Air pollution control agencies currently receiving grants and contributing less than the required minimum of two-fifths of the approved program costs shall have until November 15, 1993 to increase their contribution to the required level.

(b) Subject to the conditions set forth below, the Regional Administrator may, at the request of the Governor of a State or the Governor's designee, or in the case of a local jurisdiction, the authorized local official, waive, for a 1-year period, all or a portion of the cost-sharing requirement of paragraph (a) of this section. The Regional Administrator may renew the waiver for no more than 2 years so long as the total waiver period does not exceed 3 years from the approval date of a State's permit program required under section 502 of the Clean Air Act (Act).

(1) The waiver may be approved on a case-by-case basis and only when a State or local government's nonfederal contribution is reduced below the required two-fifths minimum as a result of the redirection of its nonfederal air resources to meet the requirements of section 502(b) of the Act.

(2) In applying for a waiver the Governor or the Governor's designee, or in the case of a local jurisdiction, the authorized local official, must:

(i) Describe the extent of fiscal and programmatic impact on the agency's section 105 program as a result of the transfer of nonfederal resources to support the program approved by EPA under section 502(b) of the Act.

(ii) Provide documentation of the amount of the cost-sharing shortfall and the programmatic activities that would not be able to be carried out if the section 105 grant is reduced or not awarded as a result of a State or local air pollution control agency's inability to meet the cost-sharing requirements.

(iii) Assure that there is no source of funding that may reasonably be used to meet the cost-sharing requirement for the affected grant budget period; and

(iv) Assure that during the section 105 grant period the non-federal share of the program costs will not be reduced in an amount greater than that authorized by the waiver.

(c) For Indian Tribes establishing eligibility pursuant to § 35.220(a), the Regional Administrator may provide financial assistance in an amount up to 95 percent of the approved costs of planning, developing, establishing, or improving an air pollution control program, and up to 95 percent of the approved costs of maintaining that program. After two years from the date of each Tribe's initial grant award, the Regional Administrator will reduce the maximum Federal share to 90 percent, as long as the Regional Administrator determines that the Tribe meets certain economic indicators that would provide an objective assessment of the Tribe's ability to increase its share. The EPA will examine the experience of this program and other relevant information to determine appropriate long-term cost share rates within five years of February 12, 1998. For Indian Tribes establishing eligibility pursuant to § 35.220(a), the Regional Administrator may increase the maximum Federal share if the Tribe can demonstrate in writing to the satisfaction of the Regional Administrator that fiscal circumstances within the Tribe are constrained to such an extent that fulfilling the match would impose undue hardship. This waiver provision is designed to be very rarely used.

(d) The Regional Administrator may provide financial assistance in an amount up to 95 percent of the approved costs of planning, developing, establishing, or approving an air pollution control program and up to 95 percent of the approved costs of maintaining that program to an intertribal agency of two or more Tribes that have established eligibility pursuant to § 35.220(a), which has substantial responsibility for carrying out an applicable implementation plan under section 110 of the Clean Air Act, when such intertribal agency is authorized by the governing bodies of those Tribes to apply for and receive financial assistance. After two years from the date of each intertribal agency's initial grant award, the Regional Administrator will reduce the maximum Federal share to 90 percent, as long as the Regional Administrator determines that the tribal members of the intertribal agency meet certain economic indicators that would provide an objective assessment of the Tribes’ ability to increase the non-federal share. For intertribal agencies made up of Indian Tribes establishing eligibility pursuant to § 35.220(a), which have substantial responsibility for carrying out an applicable implementation plan under section 110 of the Clean Air Act, the Regional Administrator may increase the maximum Federal share if the intertribal agency can demonstrate in writing to the satisfaction of the Regional Administrator that fiscal circumstances within the member Tribes are constrained to such an extent that fulfilling the match would impose undue hardship. This waiver provision is designed to be very rarely used.

(e) The Regional Administrator may provide financial assistance in an amount up to 60 percent of the approved costs of planning, developing, establishing, or improving an air pollution control program, and up to sixty percent of the approved costs of maintaining that program to Tribes that have not made a demonstration that they are eligible for treatment in the same manner as a State under 40 CFR 49.6, but are eligible for financial assistance under § 35.220(b).