Greenhouse Gases and Global Climate Change
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.