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5.7 NOISE 5.7.3 Environmental Analysis The construction and operation of the LEC will produce noise,but the facility is anticipated to comply with the applicable requirements and result in less than a significant impact. Noise also will be produced at the site during the construction of the project. Potential noise impacts from construction and operation activities are assessed in this subsection. 5.7.3.1 Significance Criteria Following the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines (California Code of Regulations [CCR],Title 14,Appendix G,Section XI),the project would cause a significant impact if it would result in the following: • Exposure of people to noise levels in excess of standards established in the local General Plan or noise ordinance • Exposure of people to excessive ground-borne noise levels or vibration • Substantial permanent increase in ambient noise levels in the project vicinity • Substantial temporary or periodic increase in ambient noise levels in the project vicinity Generally,the design basis for noise control is the minimum, or most stringent,noise level required by any of the applicable LORS. Therefore,noise from this project is evaluated against the City's requirements. The City has established quantitative standards for determining appropriate noise levels for various land uses in its Municipal Code and has established guidelines in the Noise Element of its General Plan. The California Energy Commission(CEC) has previously determined that an increase in background noise levels up to 5 dBA in a residential setting is insignificant; an increase of more than 10 dBA is considered significant,and an increase between 5 and 10 dBA may be either significant or insignificant, depending on the particular circumstances of a case. The CEC also has concluded that construction noise is typically insignificant if the construction activity is temporary,use of heavy equipment and noisy activities is limited to daytime hours,and all feasible noise abatement measures are implemented for noise- producing equipment. 5.7.3.2 Construction Impacts 5.7.3.2.1 Plant Construction Noise Construction of the LEC is expected to be typical of other power plants in terms of schedule, equipment used,and other types of activities. The noise level will vary during the construction period, depending on the construction phase. Construction of power plants can generally be divided into five phases that use different types of construction equipment. The five phases are demolition, site preparation,and excavation;concrete pouring; steel erection; mechanical; and clean-up (Miller et al.,1978). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Noise Abatement and Control and the Empire State Electric Energy Research Company have extensively studied noise from individual pieces of construction equipment as well as from construction sites of power plants and other types of facilities (EPA,1971; Barnes et al.,1976). Because specific SAC/371322/08234009(LEC_5.7_NOISE.DOC) 5.7-11