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Draft Environmental Impact Report Page IV.D-11 Forward Landfill Expansion municipal solid waste'landfills12. In addition, ARB staff is also proposing to expand the scope of this strategy to include efficiency and emissions control. Senate Bill 97 The provisions of Senate Bill 97,enacted in August 2007 as part of the State Budget negotiations, direct the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to propose CEQA Guidelines"for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions or the effects of greenhouse gas emissions." SB 97 directs OPR to develop such guidelines by July 2009, and directs the State Resources Agency, the agency charged with adopting the CEQA Guidelines, to certify and adopt such guidelines by January 2010. OPR Technical Advisory, CEQA and Climate Change On June 19, 2008, OPR published a technical advisory on CEQA and Climate Change that "offers informal guidance regarding the steps lead agencies should take to address climate change in their CEQA documents". The technical advisory points out that neither CEQA nor the CEQA Guidelines prescribe thresholds of significance or particular methodologies for performing 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". OPR recommends that "the global nature of climate change warrants investigation of a statewide threshold of significance for GHG emissions". Until such a standard is established,OPR advises that each lead agency should develop its own approach to performing an analysis for projects that generate greenhouse gas emissions. OPR sets out the following process for evaluating greenhouse gas emissions. First, agencies should determine whether greenhouse gas emissions may be generated by a proposed project, and if so, quantify or estimate the emissions by type or source. Calculation, modeling or estimation of greenhouse gas emissions should include the emissions associated with vehicular traffic,energy consumption, water usage, and construction activities. Agencies should then assess whether the emissions are "cumulatively considerable" even though a project's greenhouse gas emissions may be individually limited. Individual lead agencies may undertake a project-by-project analysis, consistent with available guidance and current CEQA practice. Finally, if the lead agency determines emissions are a cumulatively considerable contribution to a significant cumulative impact,the lead agency must investigate and implement ways to mitigate the emissions. OPR states: "Mitigation measures will vary with the type of project being contemplated,but may include alternative project designs or locations that conserve energy and water, measures that reduce vehicle miles traveled by fossil-fueled vehicles, measures that contribute to established regional or programmatic mitigation strategies, and measures that sequester carbon to offset the emissions from the project". OPR concludes that "A lead agency is not responsible for wholly eliminating all GHG emissions from a project,the CEQA standard is to mitigate to a level that is "less than significant". The technical advisory includes a list of mitigation measures that can be applied on a project-by-project basis. California Air Resources Board,landfill Methane Control Measure, ht www.arb.ca.gov cc Z landfills landfills.htm and httl2:11www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr062509.htrn