SR0082985_SSNL - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4.5 – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Draft Environmental Impact Report February 2021 14800 W. Schulte Road Logistics Center 4.5-23 Policy NCR-5.12: Energy Efficient Industry. The County shall support energy efficiency of industrial processes. Policy NCR-5.13: Solar Heating in Industrial Operations. The County shall encourage industrial operations that require large amounts of hot water to incorporate active solar systems in the design of buildings. 4.5.3 Thresholds of Significance The significance criteria used to evaluate a project’s impacts to GHG and climate change are based on Appendix G of the CEQA Guidelines. According to Appendix G of the CEQA Guidelines, a significant impact related to GHG emissions would occur if a project would: A. Generate greenhouse gas emissions, either directly or indirectly, that may have a significant impact on the environment. B. Conflict with an applicable plan, policy, or regulation adopted for the purpose of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. C. Result in cumulatively considerable impacts with regard to greenhouse gas emissions. Global climate change is a cumulative impact; a project participates in this potential impact through its incremental contribution combined with the cumulative increase of all other sources of GHGs. There are currently no established thresholds for assessing w hether the GHG emissions of a project would be considered a cumulatively considerable contribution to global climate change; however, all reasonable efforts should be made to minimize a project’s contribution to global climate change. In addition, although GHG impacts are recognized exclusively as cumulative impacts (CAPCOA 2008), GHG emissions impacts must also be evaluated on a project level under CEQA. The CEQA Guidelines do not prescribe specific methodologies for performing an assessment, do not establish specific thresholds of significance, and do not mandate specific mitigation measures. Rather, the CEQA Guidelines emphasize the lead agency’s discretion to determine the appropriate methodologies and thresholds of significance consistent with the manner in which other impact areas are handled in CEQA (CNRA 2009a). The State of California has not adopted emissions-based thresholds for GHG emissions under CEQA. The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s Technical Advisory, titled “Discussion Draft CEQA and Climate Change Advisory,” states the following (OPR 2018): Neither the CEQA statute nor the CEQA Guidelines prescribe thresholds of significance or particular methodologies for perming an impact analysis. This is left to lead agency judgment and discretion, based upon factual data and guidance from regulatory agencies and other sources where available and applicable. Even in the absence of clearly defined thresholds for GHG emissions, such emissions must be disclosed and mitigated to the extent feasible whenever the lead agency determines that the project contributes to a significant, cumulative climate change impact.