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July 5, 2006 Mr. Chandler Martin, Associate Planner Page 2 Project would extract and process 1.7 to 4.0 million tons per year of sand and gravel over a 26- to 60-year time period. In addition, the Project would operate a ready-mix concrete batch plant with an estimated production of 350,000 cubic yards per year, an asphalt batch plant with an ^ estimated production of 400,000 ton/year, and a portable recycling plant estimated to process about 100,000 ton/year of broken concrete/asphalt pavement. The hours of operation for both excavation and processing would be 24 hours per day Monday through Saturday with 1 maintenance occurring on Sundays. (Draft EIR, pp. 3-1, 3-8, 3-17, 3-22.) A-1 In order to evaluate the adequacy of the DEIR LASER under CEQA, LASER retained experts in cont. _ air quality and transportation and circulation to evaluate these key components of the DEIR. LASER submits herewith the comment of Dr. J. Phyllis Fox and Dr. Petra Pless on the air quality component (and, to a limited extent, other components)of the DEIR("Air Quality Comment") and the comment of Civil and Traffic Engineer Daniel T. Smith Jr. on the transportation and circulation component("the Traffic Comment"). LASER has appended these two reports as Attachments A and B to this letter. Both the Air Quality Comment and the Traffic Comment indicate that the DEIR is deeply flawed and that the DEIR will require recirculation for public comment after its significant flaws have _ been corrected. AIR QUALITY The Air Quality Comment shows that the DEIR's air quality analysis is fundamentally flawed due to numerous errors and omissions. Construction and operation of the Project would result in _ significant air quality impacts due to the emission of nitrogen oxides ("NOx"), reactive organic gases ("ROG"), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 micrometers or less ("PM 10"), and carbon monoxide("CO")that were not disclosed in the Draft EIR. The Project also would result in significant undisclosed odor impacts. The Air Quality Comment catalogs extensive errors in methodology and content of the air quality section of the DEIR. CEQA generally requires that an agency analyze the potential environmental impacts of its A-z proposed actions in an EIR. (Pub. Res. Code § 21100.) The EIR. is the very heart of CEQA.r "The `foremost principle' in interpreting CEQA is that the Legislature intended the act to be read so as to afford the fullest possible protection to the environment within the reasonable scope of the statutory language. ,2 Where an EIR fails to adequately disclose, discuss, and analyze the significant impacts of a project, the courts will strike down approval by a lead agency overlooking such deficiencies. CEQA is designed to inform decision makers and the public about the potential, significant environmental effects of a project 3 "Its purpose is to inform the public and its responsible officials of the environmental consequences of their decisions before they are made. Thus, the 1 Dunn-Edwards v. BAAQMD (1992) 9 Ca1.Appp.4th 644, 652. 2 Communities for a Better Environment v. Caltf. Resources Agency (2002) 103 Cal. App. 4th 98, 109. 3 14 Cal. Code Regs. (`CEQA Guidelines") § 15002(a)(1).