Preliminary identification of regions should be made by the Governor or his representative after consultation with regional and areawide planning agencies, water quality and solid waste management planning agencies, cities, and counties and other appropriate units of general purpose local government. The Governor should notify the concerned agencies of his recommendations concerning boundaries. Where the regional identification has already been established by State legislation or other method in keeping with these guidelines, this notification need only request comments on the existing arrangement.

Any chief executive of a general purpose government within the State may comment on the Governor's recommendation concerning the boundaries.

(a) The purposes of these comments are to assure that the experience of local agencies is used to fullest advantage in boundary decisions, that incompatible institutional arrangements are not forced, and that significant local considerations are not overlooked.

(b) When the objectives of the Act concerning local consultation can be met by an equivalent or existing process established under State administrative procedures acts or other State procedural guidance, the Governor may request that the EPA accept that process in fulfillment of the grant eligibility criteria under section 4007 of the Act.

Under section 4006(a) of the Act the formal means for identifying regional boundaries are to be regulations promulgated by the Governor. Where the identification of areas has already been made by State legislation or other means which have legal stature equivalent to the required regulations, and where notification and consultation have occurred pursuant to §§ 255.20 and 255.21 of this part, such legislation may be used in lieu of those regulations. Where substantial disagreement persists between the Governor and local officials, normal State administrative and judicial appeals procedures are available to resolve such conflict.

(a) The Governor should designate a lead agency to manage the identification process. That agency should review established notification procedures to determine that at least all general purpose local governments within the State, all units of regional governance, all existing solid waste and water quality management planning agencies, and all areawide agencies and the state process under Executive Order 12372 will be notified. If necessary, a supplemental distribution list should be prepared. Consideration should be given to addressing individual offices within those agencies.

(b) The Governor should, by correspondence or State notification procedures, notify the agencies on the distribution list (paragraph (a) of this section) of the purpose and schedule of the joint identification process. This may be coincident with the notification in § 255.20.

(c) The Governor, an appropriate legislative committee, and appropriate local elected officials may submit nominations of agencies and functions to the lead agency appointed by the Governor. This lead agency should make such nominations public.

(d) Chief executives of agencies on the distribution list may comment by letter on the nominations.

(e) If a disagreement exists which cannot be settled by correspondence or a meeting with the Governor's representative, a public hearing should be held and all elected officials of local general purpose governments within the region should be invited. The purpose of this meeting will be for the local officials to reach a consensus regarding the agency(ies) to be formally identified.

(f) When a consensus is reached among local elected officials a formal agreement should be made in conformance with State administrative procedures. It should be binding until revised in accordance with this subpart.

(g) When the local consensus is in agreement with the State opinion, the State should confirm that agreed arrangement, formally establishing the duties and responsibilities of the identified agencies by legislative resolution or executive order.

(h) In the event that a consensus cannot be reached before 270 days after promulgation of regulations pursuant to § 255.22 the Governor should designate a State agency to develop and implement the plan for the concerned region.

If the Governor's recommendation, the local consensus, or a neighboring Governor's recommendation is that an interstate region be identified, the procedures described in this subpart should be extended to include notification and comment of all concerned officials in the entire recommended region.

(a) Section 4006(c) of the Act establishes specific procedures for the conduct of interstate identification processes.

(b) Recommendations, nominations, and comments resulting from processes described in §§ 255.20 and 255.21 that concern interstate regions should be brought to the attention of the appropriate EPA Regional Administrator.

(c) The Governor should evaluate the use of interstate metropolitan area (Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area) boundaries for planning and management purposes, and consider nominating such areas where appropriate.

Public participation in the process of identifying regions and agencies should be provided for, encouraged, and assisted by the State and local officials.