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John Funderburg April 6, 2012 Page 2 I. The NOP Lacks Necessary Detail Regarding the Project and its Probable Environmental Impacts. A. Description of the Project. Project EIRs are often inadequate due to omissions in the project description. One of CEQA's fundamental requirements is that an EIR contain an accurate and complete project description. See County of Inyo v. City of Los Angeles, 71 Cal. App. 3d 185 (1977); see also 14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15124 (CEQA Guidelines). A clear and comprehensive project description is the sine qua non for meaningful public review. Without it, the public cannot be assured that the environmental impacts of the project have been considered in the EIR. As mentioned above, numerous regulatory agencies provided extensive comment on the 2010 EIR. The vast majority of these agencies criticized the 2010 EIR for its failure to identify and describe facilities, operations, processes, procedures and equipment associated with the proposed Project. Many of the agencies commented that without the fundamental information about the existing landfill operations and details relating to the characteristics of the proposed Project, it was not possible to evaluate or mitigate the Project's environmental impacts. See 2010 EIR Public Agency Comments. Unfortunately, this NOP suffers from the same defect. The document contains so little information about the facilities and operations that would be implemented as a result of the proposed Project that it is not possible for the public, let alone responsible and trustee agencies, to provide meaningful input as to the scope and content of the forthcoming EIR. The County elected not to prepare an initial study for the proposed Project. The purpose of an initial study is to assist the lead agency in preparing the EIR by identifying impacts of the project that are likely to be significant. See CEQA Guidelines § 15063(c)(3)(A). Although CEQA permits the County to proceed directly to preparation of an EIR without first preparing an initial study, in this case, the lack of an initial study has contributed to the troubling lack of detail and focus evidenced in the NOP. If the EIR suffers from the same lack of detail and focus, it will be legally inadequate under CEQA. littp://wNvw,si og v.nl•i-L,/commcleN,/cgi-bili/edyii.exe/handouts- planninga ForwardLandfiIIDEI R—ments?gr ojandouts- plannin�&obj=ForwardLancltillDl�IR�ments SHUT E� NI 1 I-1 A LY - l'T •\��I:IN131RGERi�r