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4. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 4.6 Ant QUALITY — however,area designations that have been made trader the California Clean Air Act correspond to _ the state standards,rather than the national standards. Thus, areas in California have two sets of area designations: one set with respect to the national standards and another set with respect to the state standards. — The federal Clean Air Act also requires nonattainment areas to prepare air quality plans that include strategies for achieving attainment. Air quality plans developed to meet federal - requirements are referred to as SIPS. The California Clean Air Act also requires plans for nonattainment areas with respect to the state standards. Thus,just as areas in California have two sets of designations,many also have two sets of air quality plans: one to meet federal requirements relative to the national standards and another to meet state requirements relative to the state standards. The SJVAB is currently designated as severe nonattainment' for national and state ozone and serious nonattainment for PM10 standards(CARS, 2002). The urbanized areas of Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, and Stockton were recently(effective June 1, 1998)redesignated as an attainment zone for the federal CO standard. The SJVAB is an attainment or unclassified zone for the other ambient air quality standards. Table 4.6-2 displays the attainment status of pollutants within the SJVAB. The U.S.EPA has designated the SJVAB a severe nonattainment area for ozone and a serious nonattainment area for PM 10. The SJVAB did not attain the federal 1-hour ozone standards by November 1999; as a result,U.S.EPA redesignated the SJVAB from a serious to a severe ozone nonattainment area. The elevation up to a severe nonattainment area gives the SJVAB more time to conform to the _ health-based standards(until November 15, 2005). However,this also requires that more stringent and expensive control measures be imposed on industry and will bring thousands of businesses under U.S.EPA Title I requirements. If the SJVAB fails to attain the standards by 2005, sanctions and a de facto growth moratorium could be imposed. The Valley Air District is exploring the option of requesting a reclassification to extreme nonattainment,a move that would extend the deadline for attaining the ozone standard until 2010,but which also would require — implementation of much more stringent air quality mitigation measures. As noted above,federal and state air quality laws require regions designated as nonattainment to — prepare plans that either demonstrates how the region will attain the standard or that demonstrate reasonable improvements in air quality conditions. A series of air quality plans has been developed for the SJVAB. The following describes the most current federal and state air quality plans as they apply to the project site: 1 It is reasonably foreseeable that the SJVAB may be redesignated to extreme nonattainment at some point in the future;however,at the time of the release of the NOP and preparation of the EIR the SJVAB was designated as severe nonattainment and as a result the analysis contained in this section,pursuant to CEQA Guidelines§ 15125(a), uses baseline conditions as they exist at the time of release of the NOP. — RMC Pacific Vernalis Quarry Mining and Reclamation Pmjecl 4.6-8 ESA/203015 Administrative Draft Ent March 2004