California OPR Releases Proposed Greenhouse Gas Guidelines for CEQA

ICLEI USA
June 3, 2009

In April, the State of California's Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released its proposed amendments to the CEQA Guidelines, which provide guidance to local governments regarding the analysis and mitigation of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions in CEQA documents.

OPR has classified the amendments as “relatively modest,” and has focused largely on incorporating greenhouse gas emissions into traditional CEQA analyses and creating new guidelines where existing CEQA guidelines were not directly relevant to greenhouse gases. Importantly, the amendments are intended to support and guide local governments that wish to establish significance thresholds, and do not mandate specific thresholds.

Read the highlights below of OPR’s proposed amendments to the CEQA guidelines.

Determining Significance

• Climate action plans and other greenhouse gas reduction plans can be used to determine whether a project has significant impacts, based upon its compliance with the plan.
• Local governments are encouraged to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions of proposed projects, noting that they have the freedom to select the models and methodologies that best meet their needs and circumstances. The section also recommends consideration of several qualitative factors that may be used in the determination of significance, such as the extent to which the given project complies with state, regional, or local GHG reduction plans and policies.

Thresholds of Significance

• OPR does not set or dictate specific thresholds of significance. Consistent with existing CEQA Guidelines, OPR encourages local governments to develop and publish their own thresholds of significance for GHG impacts assessment.
• When creating their own thresholds of significance, local governments may consider the thresholds of significance adopted or recommended by other public agencies, or recommended by experts.

Mitigation

• New amendments include guidelines for determining methods to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions in Appendix F of the CEQA Guidelines.
• OPR is clear to state that “to qualify as mitigation, specific measures from an existing plan must be identified and incorporated into the project; general compliance with a plan, by itself, is not mitigation.”

Plans, Incorporation by Reference and Tiering

• OPR’s emphasizes the advantages of analyzing GHG impacts on an institutional, programmatic level. OPR therefore approves tiering of environmental analyses and highlights some benefits of such an approach.

Energy Analysis

• Environmental impact reports (EIRs) must specifically consider a project's energy use and energy efficiency potential.

Environmental Checklist

• The Environmental Checklist (Appendix G) was modified to include questions regarding a potential project’s generation of greenhouse gas emissions. Most notably, traffic questions were given a new focus to more explicitly acknowledge: “(a) the necessity of assessing traffic impacts on intersections, streets, highways and freeways, (b) a lead agency's discretion to choose methodology, including LOS, to assess traffic impacts, (c) existing requirements in Congestion Management Programs, General Plans, ordinances, and elsewhere, and (d) traffic impacts include impacts to pedestrian, non-vehicular and mass-transit circulation.”  (OPR transmittal letter.)
  

The California Natural Resources Agency will consider OPR’s proposals and conduct formal rulemaking in 2009, prior to certifying and adopting the amendments by January 2010, as required by SB 97. The Natural Resources Agency's rulemaking process will include opportunities for public involvement, including comment periods and public hearings.

For further information, please visit:

• The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), or
• The Natural Resources Agency. The complete text of OPR’s proposed amendments is available at http://www.opr.ca.gov/index.php?a=ceqa/index.html.