§35.573. Eligible Tribe. — Inbound Citations

This subpart establishes administrative requirements for all grants awarded to Indian Tribes and Intertribal Consortia for the environmental programs listed in § 35.501. These provisions supplement the EPA general assistance regulations in 2 CFR parts 200 and 1500. Sections 35.500-518 contain administrative requirements that apply to all environmental program grants included in this subpart. Sections 35.530 through 35.718 contain requirements that apply to specified environmental program grants. Many of these environmental programs also have programmatic and technical requirements that are published elsewhere in the Code of Federal Regulations.

(b) For each environmental program grant included in the Performance Partnership Grant that has a cost share of five percent or less under the provisions of §§ 35.540 through 35.718, the required cost share shall be that identified in §§ 35.540 through 35.718 of this subpart.

(a) Sections 35.570 through 35.578 govern air pollution control grants to Tribes (as defined in section 302(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA)) authorized under sections 105 and 301(d) of the Act and Intertribal Consortia.

(a) A Tribe is eligible to receive section 105 financial assistance under §§ 35.570 through 35.578 if it has demonstrated eligibility to be treated as a State under 40 CFR 49.6. An Intertribal Consortium consisting of Tribes that have demonstrated eligibility to be treated as States under 40 CFR 49.6 is also eligible for financial assistance.

The Regional Administrator will not disapprove an application for, or terminate or annul an award of, financial assistance under § 35.573 without prior notice and opportunity for a public hearing within the appropriate jurisdiction or, where more than one area is affected, within one of the affected areas within the jurisdiction

(a) For Tribes and Intertribal Consortia eligible under § 35.573(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 or Intertribal Consortium's initial grant award, the Regional Administrator will reduce the maximum federal share to 90 percent if the Regional Administrator determines that the Tribe or each member of the Intertribal Consortium meets certain economic indicators that would provide an objective assessment of the Tribe's or each of the Intertribal Consortiums member's ability to increase its share. For a Tribe or Intertribal Consortium eligible under § 35.573(a), the Regional Administrator may increase the maximum federal share if the Tribe or Intertribal Consortium can demonstrate in writing to the satisfaction of the Regional Administrator that fiscal circumstances within the Tribe or within the member Tribes of the Intertribal Consortium are constrained to such an extent that fulfilling the match requirement would impose undue hardship.

(b) For Tribes and Intertribal Consortia eligible under § 35.573(b), 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 60 percent of the approved costs of maintaining that program.

(a) For Tribes and Intertribal Consortia that are eligible for financial assistance under § 35.573(b) of this subpart, the Tribe or each of the Intertribal Consortium's members must expend annually, for recurrent Section 105 program expenditures, an amount of non-federal funds at least equal to such expenditures during the preceding fiscal year.

(1) In order to award grants in a timely manner each fiscal year, the Regional Administrator shall compare a Tribe's or each of the Intertribal Consortium's member's proposed expenditure level, as detailed in the grant application, to its expenditure level in the second preceding fiscal year. When expenditure data for the preceding fiscal year is complete, the Regional Administrator shall use this information to determine the Tribe's or Intertribal Consortium's compliance with its maintenance of effort requirement.

(2) If expenditure data for the preceding fiscal year shows that a Tribe or Intertribal Consortium did not meet the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, the Regional Administrator will take action to recover the grant funds for that year.

(3) The Regional Administrator may grant an exception to § 35.576(a) if, after notice and opportunity for a public hearing, the Regional Administrator determines that a reduction in expenditures is attributable to a non-selective reduction of all the Tribe's or each of the Intertribal Consortium's member's programs.