2019-090 - Adopting the Mitigated Negative Declaration

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*:/:I1-3111WA commercial and residential (12.0 percent), agriculture and forestry (7.9 percent) and other (solvents and chemicals at 0.2 percent), (GARB 2018b). California's GHG emissions have followed a declining trend since 2007. In 2016, emissions from routine GHG emitting activities statewide were 429 MMTCOze, 12 AIWCOze lower than 2015 levels or 12 MMfCO2e lower than 2015 levels. This represents an overall decrease of 13 percent since peak levels in 2004 and 2 MMTCOze below the 1990 level and the states 2020 GHG target. During the 2000 to 2016 period, per capita GHG emissions in California have continued to drop from a peak in 2001 of 14.0 MI'COze per capita to 10.8 MTCOze per capita in 2016, a 23 percent decrease. Overall trends in the inventory also demonstrate that the carbon intensity of California's economy (the amount of carbon pollution per million dollars of gross domestic product (GDP)) is declining, representing a 38 percent decline since the 2001 peak, while the state's GDP has grown 41 percent during this period (GARB 2018c). Regulatory Settings REGULATION OF GHG EMISSIONS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on December 7, 2009, that GHG emissions threaten the public health and welfare of the American people and that GHG emissions from on -road vehicles contribute to that threat. The EPNs final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that GHG emissions fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings do not in and of themselves impose any emission reduction requirements, but allow the EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed in 2009 for new light -duty vehicles as part of the joint rlemaking with the Department of Transportation (USEPA 2009). To regulate GHGs from passenger vehicles, EPA was required to issue an endangerment finding. The finding identifies emissions of six key GHGs COz, C144, N20, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and SF6 that have been the subject of scrutiny and intense analysis for decades by scientists in the United States and around the world. The fast throe are applicable to the project's GHG emissions inventory because they constitute the majority of GHG emissions and, per South Coast Air Quality Management District guidance, are the GHG emissions that should be evaluated as part of a project's GHG emissions inventory. US Mandatory Report Rule for GHGs (2009) In response to the endangerment finding, the EPA issued the Mandatory Reporting of GHG Rule that requires substantial emitters of GHG emissions (large stationary sources, etc) to report GHG emissions data. Facilities that emit 25,000 MT or more of COz per year are required to submit an annual report. Update to Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (2010/2012) The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (for model years 2011 to 2016) incorporate stricter fuel economy requirements promulgated by the federal government and California into one uniform standard. Additionally, automakers are required to cut GHG emissions in new vehicles by roughly 25 percent by 2016 (resulting m a fleet average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016). Rulemaking to adopt these new 75C-157