COMPLIANCE INFO_FINAL INITIAL STUDY/MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION 5/25

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Memorandum March 25, 2025 Page 11 21202-23 North County Landfill_AQ_0307 Operation of the Project would generate criteria pollutant emissions that could potentially impact regional air quality. The primary pollutant emissions of concern during project operation would be ozone precursors (ROG and NOx), PM10, PM2.5, and emissions of LFG. Implementation of the project would result in net increases in off-road equipment usage on the project site, and project-generated vehicle trips along the haul route. Although the project would not change the North County Landfill design capacity, the rate of additional cell and module construction on the project site would increase to accommodate the amount of waste accepted with the proposed increase in maximum allowed daily refuse disposal. Compared to the current operation condition, the project could increase fugitive emissions from the landfill surface, and exhaust emissions from LFG control devices (e.g., flare) due to the increase in LFG generated and collected. Off-Road Equipment and On-Road Mobile Sources The heavy off-road equipment currently used at the North County Landfill will continue to be used with implementation of the project. As mentioned above, the project would increase off- road equipment usage on site, in terms of hours of operation and number of off-road equipment used. Criteria air pollutant emissions from off-road equipment for the current operation condition (2024) and project condition were calculated using CalEEMod version 2022.1 methodologies. For mobile sources, the project would increase the maximum allowed number of daily incoming refuse vehicles from 850 vehicles per day to 1,200 vehicles per day. This increase would involve a change in refuse truck routing; approximately 50 transfer trucks that currently go to the Foothill Landfill would be re-routed to the North County Landfill. In addition, it was assumed that the project would generate 12 one-way worker commute trips per day for the six new employees. Emissions of criteria air pollutants from mobile sources were estimated for the current operation condition and project condition using the year 2024 emission factors from CARB’s EMFAC2021 database. Because statewide vehicle emission standards are required to improve over time in accordance with vehicle emission regulations, using the emission factors for the baseline year (2024) provides the maximum expected annual emissions. The project would generate fugitive PM10 and PM2.5 emissions from onsite earthwork activities, on-road vehicle brake wear and tire wear, resuspended road dust on paved and unpaved roads, and windblown landfill sediment and cover. Earthwork is conducted in accordance with the Valley Air District’s Regulation VIII. Water trucks and sweepers are used for dust control. It was assumed that the exposed areas will be watered twice per day. The primary input data used to estimate criteria air pollutant emissions associated with operation of the project were provided by the applicant and included information about the current operation condition and project off-road construction equipment inventory and usage, off-site haul truck trips, on-site water trucks trips, other on-site service truck trips, and travel