COMPLIANCE INFO_FINAL INITIAL STUDY/MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION 5/25

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Memorandum 25 March 2025 Page 10 SIGNIFICANCE CRITERIA According to the CEQA Guidelines Appendix G, implementation of the project would have a significant impact related to GHG emissions if it would: 1. Generate GHG emissions, either directly or indirectly, that may have a significant impact on the environment; or 2. Fundamentally conflict with an applicable plan, policy, or regulation adopted for the purposes of reducing the emissions of GHGs. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS GHG Emissions from Project Operation The project would not change the North County Landfill’s design capacity of 41.2 million cubic yards of disposal and would not involve construction of new facilities. The amount of waste-in- place when the landfill reaches its design capacity would remain the same. The project would increase the maximum amount of allowed daily refuse disposal and the number of daily incoming refuse trucks from 1,200 tons per day and 850 trucks per day to 4,000 tons and 1,200 trucks per day. This increase would involve a change in refuse truck routing; approximately 51 transfer trucks that currently go to the Foothill Landfill would be re-routed to the North County Landfill. The average trip distance for the re-routed trucks is expected to decrease due to the location of the North County Landfill. Although the number of truck trips to North County Landfill would increase, partially due to routing changes, the total vehicle miles travelled by refuse trucks would decrease by approximately 5.7 percent from 1,678,144 miles to 1,582,797 miles in 2026. The increase in daily refuse disposal would increase the use of off-road equipment associated with landfill operations. Up to six new employees would be needed for the increase in waste disposal and truck trip-related activity. 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 the rate of LFG generated and collected but is not expected to substantially change the total amount of LFG generated over the lifetime of the landfill since the total waste-in-place would remain the same once landfill capacity is reached. For the baseline condition (2024) and project condition, GHG emissions from off-road equipment usage were calculated using the California Emissions Estimator Model (CalEEMod)