The American public and government have
recently become concerned about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their
effects on global climate change. In 2006, the State Legislature signed
AB 32 which charged the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop
regulations on how the state would address global climate change (also
known as “global warming”). However, the State Attorney General's Office
and some environmental groups are already asking individual projects to
analyze the impacts on global warming as part of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. CARB, the State EPA, the U.S.
EPA, or other appropriate governmental organizations have not yet
developed guidelines on how to prepare an impact assessment for global
climate change.
The Association of Environmental
Professionals (AEP) is a state-wide professional group of environmental
planners. A primary focus of the AEP is the preparation of CEQA
compliance documents such as Negative Declarations and Environmental
Impact Reports (EIRs). The AEP has prepared this “White Paper” for
consideration by the Governors Office of Planning and Research (OPR) and
the California Air Resources Board (CARB). This paper recommends a
reasonable interim approach to analyze the impact of individual
development and planning projects on GHG emissions and global climate
change in CEQA documents until official guidance or regulations are
issued by the appropriate agencies. There is an immediate need for this
type of guidance because Lead agencies are now being asked to assess a
project’s significance with regards to global climate change in CEQA
documents.
This paper focuses on the evaluation of
climate change impacts in CEQA documents that result from typical
development-related projects such as private development (residential,
commercial, and industrial) and planning programs (Specific Plans,
General Plan Updates, etc.). There are many other kinds of actions and
projects undertaken or approved by lead agencies that are not addressed
in this proposed approach, such as timber harvest plans, water quality
management plans, highway improvement projects and others that do not
directly contribute to GHG emissions or have complicated
interrelationships to GHG balance in the atmosphere.
Kent Norton
AEP President
knorton@brandman.com
Comments Received by AEP
AEP continues to take comments on the
Draft White paper. Please e-mail your comments to:
Kent Norton
