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4.1 – Air Quality Draft Environmental Impact Report February 2021 14800 W. Schulte Road Logistics Center 4.1-9 Hazardous Air Pollutants The 1977 federal Clean Air Act amendments required the EPA to identify national emission standards for HAPs to protect public health and welfare. HAPs include certain VOCs, pesticides, herbicides, and radionuclides that present a tangible hazard, based on scientific studies of exposure to humans and other mammals. Under the 1990 federal Clean Air Act Amendments, which expanded the control program for HAPs, 18 7 substances and chemical families were identified as HAPs. State Criteria Air Pollutants The federal Clean Air Act delegates the regulation of air pollution control and the enforcement of the NAAQS to the states. In California, the task of air quality management and regulation has been legislatively granted to CARB, with subsidiary responsibilities assigned to air quality management districts and air pollution control districts at the regional and county levels. CARB, which became part of the California Environmental Protection Agency in 1991, is responsible for ensuring implementation of the California Clean Air Act of 1988, responding to the federal Clean Air Act, and regulating emissions from motor vehicles and consumer products. CARB has established the CAAQS, which are generally more restrictive than the NAAQS. An ambient air quality standard defines the maximum amount of a pollutant averaged over a specified period of time that can be present in outdoor air without harm to the public’s health. For each pollutant, concentrations must be below the relevant CAAQS before a basin can attain the corresponding CAAQS. Air quality is considered “in attainment” if pollutant levels are continuously below the CAAQS and violate the standards no more than once each year. The CAAQS for O3, CO, SO2 (1- hour and 24-hour), NO2, PM10, PM2.5, and visibility-reducing particles are values that are not to be exceeded. The SJVAPCD based its thresholds of significance for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) purposes on the levels that scientific and factual data demonstrate that the air basin can accommodate without affecting the attainment date for the NAAQS or CAAQS. Since an ambient air quality standard is based on maximum pollutant levels in outdoor air that would not harm the public’s health, and air district thresholds pertain to attainment of the ambient air quality standard, this means that the thresholds established by air districts are also protective of human health. All others are not to be equaled or exceeded. The NAAQS and CAAQS are presented in Table 4.1-1. Table 4.1-1. Ambient Air Quality Standards Pollutant Averaging Time California Standardsa National Standardsb Concentrationc Primaryc,d Secondaryc,e O3 1 hour 0.09 ppm (180 g/m3) — Same as Primary Standardf 8 hours 0.070 ppm (137 g/m3) 0.070 ppm (137 g/m3)f NO2g 1 hour 0.18 ppm (339 g/m3) 0.100 ppm (188 g/m3) Same as Primary Standard Annual Arithmetic Mean 0.030 ppm (57 g/m3) 0.053 ppm (100 g/m3) CO 1 hour 20 ppm (23 mg/m3) 35 ppm (40 mg/m3) None 8 hours 9.0 ppm (10 mg/m3) 9 ppm (10 mg/m3)