ARCHIVED REPORTS LEC APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION

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SECTION 1.0:EXECUTIVE SUMMARY emissions would continue to generate power instead of being replaced with cleaner,more efficient plants,such as the LEC. Also, during limited availability of in-state generated electricity,imported electrical energy has proven to be expensive and is not always available. In addition to the no project alternative,LEC has analyzed two possible alternative power plant sites. Each of these sites was rejected as infeasible because each fails to meet most of the LEC's basic objectives,fails to avoid or minimize potentially significant environmental effects, and/or includes the potential for the alternative itself to result in one or more significant environmental impacts.A complete discussion of project alternatives,including the no project alternative is presented in Section 6.0. Alternative routings for natural gas was not considered because it is the most direct and shortest possible within an existing natural gas utility corridor. Sanitary sewer,process water and the transmission system are all on site. Several alternative generating technologies were reviewed in a process that resulted in the selection of a state-of-the-art,natural gas-fired combustion turbine power plant for the LEC. The alternative technologies included conventional oil and natural gas-fired plants, simple-cycle combustion turbines,biomass-fired plants,waste-to-energy plants, solar plants, wind generation plants,and others.None of these technologies was considered better than or equal to the"F-Class' combined-cycle turbine technology selected for the LEC in meeting the project goals. 1.5 Environmental Considerations Pursuant to the requirements set forth in existing environmental laws and the CEC's regulations, sixteen areas of possible environmental impact from the proposed project were investigated. Detailed descriptions and analyses of these areas are presented in Sections 5.1 through 5.16 of the AFC. As discussed in detail in this AFC,with the implementation of the proposed mitigation measures and the anticipated Conditions of Certification,there will be no significant unmitigated environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of the LEC. This Executive Summary highlights findings related to five subject areas that have historically been of interest in CEC proceedings: air quality,biological resources,noise,visual resources,and water resources. 1.5.1 Air Quality The LEC site is located in an area that has been designated non-attainment for both the State of California and federal ambient air quality standards for ozone,particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 microns (PM1o),and particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). The area is designated as attainment for carbon monoxide,NO, and sulfur dioxide. An assessment of the project impacts on air quality was performed using air dispersion modeling,and these impacts were all determined to be either below the ambient air quality standards or contributing a less than significant impact where the ambient air quality standard was already being exceeded.The potential air quality impacts from the LEC will be mitigated by providing emissions offsets and implementing best available control technology (BACT) for the combustion turbine and support equipment. The project 1-10 SAC/371322/082330001(LEC_1.0_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.DOC)