U.S. EPA REGION IX LETTER

Summary:

An August 22, 2000, letter signed by former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator, Felicia Marcus, is frequently cited by South Pasadena and other project opponents as a basis to question the results of virtually every study that shows the 710 Freeway Project will have a positive air quality impact. This letter is the bald opinion of Ms. Marcus and it has absolutely no U.S. EPA conducted study (or any other study) to substantiate her claim that the 710 Project will not have a positive air quality benefit. The notorious Marcus letter continues to be used by the 710 opponents for one simple reason: In the debate over air quality, it’s all they have!

The Details:

The only governmental official who has given project opponents any support on the air quality issue was the U.S. EPA Region IX Administrator, Felicia Marcus. Although Ms. Marcus left her appointment at the close of the Clinton Administration, South Pasadena continues to show her strange letter to other governmental decisionmakers in an effort to deter them from taking action to advance the 710 Freeway to completion.

Ms. Marcus’s August 22, 2000, letter is perhaps the most bizarre single document in the 710 Freeway debate. The Marcus letter purported to be a response to an inquiry by State Senator Adam Schiff about the air quality impacts of the 710 Project. At the time the letter was written, the City of South Pasadena was pressing the state legislature to pass two bills intended to kill the 710 Freeway Project. In the successful effort to defeat the bills, the 710 Coalition and other project supporters pointed out that every study ever conducted of the 710 Project demonstrated it will have a positive air quality impact when constructed.

In the transportation planning process, U.S. EPA in Washington D.C. issues regulations regarding how to determine whether regional transportation plans are in conformity with the State Air Plan. The Air Plan sets targets for reducing air pollution emissions in order to bring the State of California and its regions into compliance with the Clean Air Act. Neither U.S. EPA nor any of its regional offices is responsible for actually conducting the conformity studies required of each region. In Southern California, that task is the responsibility of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). When SCAG completes its study to determine if the regional transportation plans are in conformity with the State Air Plan, it is the responsibility of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to review SCAG’s work and concur with the findings. If FHWA or FTA do not concur, the region can be declared to be "out of conformity" with the State Air Plan. During this process, U.S. EPA Region IX is consulted, but the ultimate federal agency decision regarding conformity and air quality lies with FHWA and FTA.

In the August 22, 2000, letter Marcus wrote that:

". . . there are claims that the 710 freeway extension would have positive air quality benefits and therefore is critical for demonstrating transportation conformity in the South Coast Air Basin. There are also claims that if the 710 extension is not built, transportation conformity could not be met thus resulting in the loss of federal transportation dollars. These claims are not true."

It is clear that 710 project opponents convinced Ms. Marcus to release this letter at a critical time in the state legislative deliberation process when the legislature was about to vote on the two 710 killer bills supported by Mr. Schiff. Other than her naked opinion, the letter cities no U.S. EPA study or any other study to support Ms. Marcus’s conclusion that the claims of the positive air quality benefit of the 710 project were "not true." In fact, there is not one shred of evidence to support her personal opinion set in a letter typed on U.S. EPA letterhead.

The facts are that the 710 Project has consistently been included in the regional transportation plans and played a key role in maintaining regional conformity with the State Air Plan. The responsible federal agencies are FHWA and FTA who make the actually conformity determinations, not U.S. EPA which only confers and comments. These responsible federal agencies have found time and time again that the 710 Freeway will have regionally significant positive air quality impacts -- regardless what Ms. Marcus’s personal opinion may be.