Air Quality CEQA Review

Update July 27, 2009: The District is currently updating our CEQA Guidance.  This page shall be updated as portions of the CEQA Guidance are adopted.  Please contact the District's Planning Department at (530) 634-7659 ext. 210 for specific project questions.  Thank you!

Update October 13, 2009: The District Board of Directors adopted amendments to Rule 3.17 Wood Heating Devices.  As part of the amendments, all newly installed masonry or factory build wood burning fireplaces must meet EPA Phase II emission standards.  Alternative compliance options are the installation of gas or electric fireplaces.  For more information, please see here.

Update Dec 8, 2009: The District has been designated nonattainment for the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5.  The designation becomes official Dec 14, 2009.  All planning projects subject to NEPA should contact the applicable Metropolitan Planning Organization (SACOG for FRAQMD) in regards to conformity determinations if the project will not be approved by Dec 14, 2010.

Introduction

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; CEQA FAQs) requires public agencies to take responsibility for protecting the environment.  The general public and responsible/commenting agencies such as the air district are provided an opportunity to review and submit comments pertaining to the project to the Lead Agency (typically the city or county planning agency; community development; community services department) prior to project approval by their governing board.  In regulating public or private projects, agencies are expected to avoid or minimize environmental damage especially impacts to the health of its citizens. The purpose of an environmental review is to identify the significant effects of a project on the environment, identify alternatives to the project, and indicate the manner in which significant impacts can be mitigated or avoided. To this end, below is a list of air district-approved resources to estimate project air pollutant emissions, identify a project's air quality significant effects, and select the best available mitigation measures designed to avoid or reduce the air quality environmental impacts of transportation and land-use activities.

State and National Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS) Designations:

The District has several different planning areas.  All of the areas use the same Indirect Source Review Guidelines (below) and the same Thresholds of Significance.  For NEPA assessments, general conformity thresholds and de minis thresholds vary depending on the NAAQS 8-hour designations. See Area Designations here.

Standard Mitigation for All Projects within Yuba and Sutter Counties:

The District requires that all projects implement Standard Construction Phase Mitigation Measures, submit a completed Fugitive Dust Control Plan prior to beginning work, and review the State and Local Laws Applicable to Fugitive Dust.

-Fugitive Dust Control Plan

-Standard Construction Phase Mitigation Measures

-State and Local Laws Applicable to Fugitive Dust

The District's Indirect Source Review (ISR) Guidelines:

The ISR Guidelines applies to all projects within Yuba and Sutter Counties.  The Guidelines identify projects that may have a significant impact on air quality, as compared to the District's Thresholds of Significance. If a project is shown to exceed the Thresholds of Significance, mitigation measures should be incorporated into the project design that will reduce the impact to a less than significant level.  If the mitigation is successful at reducing the impact below the Thresholds, a Mitigated Negative Declaration may be prepared.

Indirect Source Review Guideline. 

For more information regarding the Thresholds of Significance, please contact the District's Planning staff at (530) 634-7659 ext 210.

For Projects Where the Operational Phase Exceeds the Thresholds of Significance:

The District Board of Directors approved the development and use of a list of Best Available Mitigation Measures (BAMM).  This list is available at (MS Excel 2002 or Adobe PDF) . Each point represents 1% percent emission reduction.  Not all measures are appropriate for each project.  Air District staff are available to assist in the selection and application of mitigation measures.  For projects that exceed the thresholds of significance, and are not able to mitigate below the thresholds, an Environmental Impact Report shall be prepared demonstrating the inclusion of all feasible measures from the BAMM.

Information on Biogenic Emissions and Landscaping and Air Quality

How to Quantify Emissions:

The URBan EMISsions (URBEMIS) model is widely used throughout California by project applicants, environmental consultants, local governments, and air districts, to evaluate the air quality impacts of a project. URBEMIS is the only FRAQMD-approved model at this time. The model is used to calculate air emissions associated with land development projects. The data generated by URBEMIS is used to determine whether or not a project would generate significant quantities of air pollutants from indirect sources to cause a "significant effect" and the extent of mitigation that will be necessary. Not all projects can be evaluated using the URBEMIS model; contact the District for further assistance.  

All other methodologies used to derive emissions estimates for submittal in the CEQA review process, not provided on this web site, must be pre-approved by the FRAQMD Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO).

A Roadway Construction Emissions Model (in MS Excel - 1.8 Mb) is available at the SMAQMD web site to assist roadway (or Levee) project proponents with determining the emission impacts of their projects.

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.

- Chinese Proverb