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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Technical Report Mountain House Neighborhoods K& L, San Joaquin County, California 2 Regulatory Environment for the GHG Inventory The Project is located within the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) jurisdiction. To assist interested parties in assessing the significance of GHG emissions from' land-use development projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), SJVAPCD has developed several guidance documents, including "Guidance for Valley Land- use Agencies in Addressing GHG Emission Impacts for New Projects under CEQA,7 and "SJVAPCD Final Staff Report Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act"e. SJVAPCD guidance relies on the use of performance based standards, otherwise known as Best Performance Standards (BPS), for assessing the significance of GHG emissions under CEQA. According to SJVAPCD guidance, projects implementing BPS would be determined to have a less than significant individual and cumulative impact on global climate change and would not require project specific quantification of GHG emissions. To simplify the evaluation) process, the District has developed a point system and tools (e.g., interim GHG emission reductions calculator) for use by lead agencies to score the effectiveness of the achieved BPS. However, projects not implementing BPS are required to demonstrate a 29% reduction in GH'G emissions, compared to business-as-usual, to have a less than significant impact.9 The 29% reduction target is consistent with GHG emission reduction targets established in the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Assembly Bill (AB) 32 Scoping Plan.1 ," (Legislation and rules regarding climate change, as well as the scientific understanding of the extent to which different activities emit GHGs, continue to evolve; as such, the inventory in this report is a reflection of the guidance and knowledge currently available. Available at: http://www.valleyair.org/Programs/CCAP/12-17-09/3°/`20CCAP%20- %20 FI N AL%20 LU%20G u idance%20-%20 Dec%2017%202009.pdf a Available at: http://www.valleyair.org/Programs/CCAP/12-17-09/1%20CCAP%20- %20FINAL%20C EQA%20GHG%20Staff%20 Report%20-%20 Dec%2017%202009.pdf 9 The SJVAPCD documents define business-as-usual as the total baseline emission for all emissions sources within the development type,projected for the year 2020, assuming no change in GHG emissions per unit of activity as established for the baseline period,2002-2004. 10 Page 7 of"SJVAPCD Final Staff Report Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act." Available at:http://www.valleyair.org/Programs/CCAP/12-17-0911%20CCAP%20- %20 F I NAL%20CEQA%20G HG%20Staff%20Report%20-%20Dec%2017%202009.pdf 11 Climate Change Scoping Plan. CARB. December 2008. Available at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/document/scopingplandocument.htm 03-25858A 6 E'N V t RQ' N