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Resources Agency to Hold Public Hearings on Proposed CEQA Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts August 4, 2009 by Eric W. Davis |
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The California Resources Agency will hold two public hearings this month on proposed amendments to regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) (CEQA). The proposed amendments (Proposed GHG Guidelines) provide guidance to lead agencies regarding the analysis and mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from projects subject to environmental review. The Proposed GHG Guidelines are, to date, the most comprehensive and authoritative attempt to address the question of how lead agencies should discuss greenhouse gas emissions in CEQA documents. Background In 2006, the California Legislature and the Governor mandated a reduction in the state’s GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and promised further reductions after that date. The GHG reduction mandate, known as AB 32, raised the questions of whether and how lead agencies should assess GHG emissions in CEQA environmental review. In 2007, the California Legislature enacted SB 97, which authorized the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to develop guidelines explaining how CEQA lead agencies should analyze and mitigate impacts on GHG emissions. In April 2009, OPR submitted its proposed guidelines for GHG analysis to the California Resources Agency, the entity charged with enacting state regulations implementing CEQA. The Resources Agency is now considering whether to enact the guidelines proposed by OPR, with only minor changes, into law. In 2008, the Legislature and the Governor enacted statutes intended to facilitate regional reductions in GHG emissions through land use policy. SB 375 mandates the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop regional GHG reduction targets for California’s most populous areas. These reduction targets, while not binding on cities or counties, guide the development of “Sustainable Community Strategies” that are intended to influence local land use planning decisions and facilitate reductions in transportation-related GHG emissions. The Proposed GHG Guidelines fulfill the agency’s responsibility under SB 97 to provide guidance on GHG impact analysis. In addition, the guidelines dovetail with SB 375’s mandate for GHG reduction planning at the regional level. The Proposed GHG Guidelines The Proposed GHG Guidelines hew closely to well-established terms of art in the existing body of CEQA law. They require an EIR to “discuss” any relevant greenhouse gas reduction plans or regional blueprint plans. However, the lead agency need not set the threshold of significance for GHG with reference to any particular regional plan or target. Instead, the Proposed GHG Guidelines merely declare that the determination of the significance of GHG emissions “calls for careful judgment by the lead agency” consistent with existing CEQA regulations. The Proposed GHG Guidelines allow the lead agency to apply a quantitative or qualitative threshold of significance. They further provide that an agency “may” consider a number of factors when determining the significance of the project’s impact on GHG emissions. Among these factors are “the extent to which the project complies with regulations or requirements adopted to implement a statewide, regional, or local plan for the reduction or mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.” Thus, when setting thresholds of significance, agencies are permitted, but not required, to consider the regional Sustainable Communities Strategy and the regional GHG reduction targets established by CARB under SB 375. The proposed guidelines also expressly provide that lead agencies may analyze and mitigate GHG impacts “at a programmatic level,” as part of the impact analysis supporting a general plan or other wider-scope planning documents. When program-level environmental documents analyze potential GHG impacts in general, later project-specific environmental analyses may “tier off” the programmatic analysis to limit additional analysis to effects that are peculiar to the project or its site. Like SB 375, which encourages GHG reductions at a regional level, the Proposed GHG Guidelines strongly suggest that GHG impacts are cumulative effects of multiple projects best analyzed and mitigated as part of a broad planning process. Besides discussing significance thresholds and tiered environmental review, the proposed GHG guidelines also address the issue of how to craft mitigation measures for GHG impacts. For example, they suggest that project-specific GHG emissions may be mitigated through: measures in existing plans or mitigation programs; implementation of project-specific measures or design changes; GHG offsets or other off-site measures; and sequestration of greenhouse gases. With regard to GHG analysis for larger-scope planning documents (like general plans or greenhouse gas reduction plans), mitigation measures may take the form of “specific measures that may be implemented on a project-by-project basis.” This last provision opens the door for “tiered” GHG emissions mitigation grounded in a local or regional planning document. Conclusion While short on specifics as to how GHG impacts should be analyzed in the context of particular projects, the Proposed GHG Guidelines clarify that GHG impacts are appropriately addressed as cumulative impacts, and suggest ways in which significant GHG emissions impacts can be mitigated. Further, the proposed guidelines establish that “tiered” analysis of GHG impacts relying on broad impact analyses is oftentimes the most efficient approach to examining a project’s potential GHG emissions. The Proposed GHG Guidelines also require consideration of regional GHG planning efforts mandated by SB 375 as part of the CEQA review process, without mandating that lead agencies determine the significance of impacts based on regional GHG reduction targets. The Resource Agency’s Notice of Public Hearing on the Proposed GHG Guidelines is available at http://bit.ly/4e29Dr. The first hearing will be held in Sacramento on August 18, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. in the Resource Agency’s auditorium at 1416 Ninth Street. The second hearing will be held in Los Angeles on August 20, 2009, at 1:00 P.M. in the Ronald Reagan State Building at 300 South Spring Street. The Proposed GHG Guidelines are available at http://bit.ly/16H0rR in redline format to indicate changes to the CEQA Guidelines (14 Cal. Code Regs., § 15000 et seq.). |
