DRAFT Climate Action Plan - PMC

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INTRODUCTION
SB 97 – CEQA Guideline Amendments of 2007
Senate Bill 97 was adopted in 2007 by the State of California and directed the
Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to amend the CEQA Guidelines to
address greenhouse gas emissions. The CEQA Guidelines prepared by OPR were
adopted in December 2009 and went into effect March 18, 2010. Local governments
may use adopted plans consistent with the CEQA Guidelines to assess the cumulative
impacts of projects on climate change, if the adopted plan includes a certified
environmental impact report (EIR) or adoption of an environmental document. In order to
benefit from the streamlining provisions of the CEQA Guidelines, a plan for the reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions must accomplish the following:
Quantify greenhouse gas emissions, both existing and projected over a specified
time period, resulting from activities within a defined geographic area;
Establish a level, based on substantial evidence, below which the contribution to
greenhouse gas emissions from activities covered by the plan would not be
cumulatively considerable;
Identify and analyze the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from specific
actions or categories of actions anticipated within the geographic area;
Specify measures or a group of measures, including performance standards, that
substantial evidence demonstrates, if implemented on a project-by-project basis,
would collectively achieve the specified emissions level;
Establish a mechanism to monitor the plan’s progress toward achieving the level
and to require amendment if the plan is not achieving specified levels;
Be adopted in a public process following environmental review.
In response to the updated CEQA Guidelines, the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District has adopted thresholds of significance for greenhouse gas emissions. These
thresholds are used in the environmental review process for plans and projects by local
governments and may streamline the environmental review process.
Draft
BAAQMD Guidance and CEQA Tiering
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District CEQA Air Quality Guidelines were
developed to assist lead agencies in evaluating air quality impacts for projects and plans
in the San Francisco Bay Area Air Basin. The guidelines were updated in 2010 to
include guidance on assessing greenhouse gas and climate change impacts as required
under CEQA Guidelines Section 15183.5(b) and to establish thresholds of significance
for impacts related to greenhouse gas emissions. These thresholds can be used to
assess plan-level and project-level impacts and allow a lead agency to determine that a
project’s impact on GHG emissions is less than significant if it is in compliance with a
Qualified Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy. This CAP meets the programmatic
threshold of the BAAQMD guidelines.
This CAP follows both the CEQA Guidelines and the BAAQMD guidelines by
incorporating the standard elements of a Qualified GHG Reduction Strategy. Appendix C
describes in detail how the City’s Climate Action Plan satisfies the BAAQMD’s
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CITY OF SUNNYVALE CLIMATE ACTION PLAN