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required to meet new emission standards for formaldehyde from composite wood products in order to <br />reduce exposures to formaldehyde and avoid adverse health effects. Typical composite wood products <br />include hardwood plywood, medium -density fiberboard, and particleboard, as well as household and <br />other finished goods containing these products. The new emission limits include the following: <br />• Hardwood Plywood: 0.05 parts per million (ppm) <br />• Particleboard: 0.09 ppm <br />• Medium -density fibreboard: 0.1 1 ppm <br />• Thin Medium -density fibreboard: 0.13 ppm <br />These emission levels were determined to be incompliance with and result in less exposure (e.g., daily <br />intake) than the California Proposition 65 safe harbor level for formaldehyde (40 µg/day), which is based <br />on Proposition 65's risk criterion of 1 in 100,000. Thus, products manufactured to TSCA Title VI and <br />California Proposition 65 safe harbor standards, which is now required by the U.S. EPA for all products <br />manufactured or imported into the United States, would not generate formaldehyde emissions that would <br />exceed the SCAQMD significance threshold of 10 per million. <br />CARB identifies that these standards are projected to lead to a reduction in statewide formaldehyde <br />emissions of 500 tons per year. Reduced risk of cancer from formaldehyde exposure is also a resulting <br />benefit, and implementation of these standards is estimated to reduce excess cancer cases per million <br />people from formaldehyde exposure by about 40 percent <br />(https://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/compwood/implementation/faq.htm#G). The CalGreen Building Code <br />also includes similar formaldehyde limits for building products. <br />The Project would be implemented pursuant to these formaldehyde requirements, as all products <br />manufactured or imported in the United States would be required to meet these regulations. This would <br />limit the potential of human health and cancer risks to a less than significant level pursuant to the SCAQMD <br />significance threshold of 10 per million. Thus, building material manufacturer compliance with existing <br />regulations would avoid potentially significant impacts related to formaldehyde. Thereby, the Project <br />would also result in less than significant impacts. <br />Comment 5: This comment states that the City has the duty to investigate potential environmental impacts <br />related to formaldehyde emissions to reduce the cancer risk below the SCAQMD threshold. The comment <br />provides references to case law and statutes related to assessing potential health impacts and asserts that <br />the Project would generate substantial formaldehyde emissions. The comment further states that the <br />information provided establishes a fair argument that the Project will have a significant adverse <br />environmental impact and a revised EIR is required. <br />Response 5: As described above in Response 4, the Project would not exceed SCAQMD thresholds for <br />formaldehyde, and health risks or other substantial adverse effects on human beings related to <br />formaldehyde would not occur from the Project. Thus, mitigation measures would not be required. In <br />addition, the comment does not constitute substantial evidence of a fair argument of a significant <br />environmental impact. <br />Comment 6: This comment states that attached comments of traffic engineer Dan Smith indicate that the <br />Project will have significant impacts on traffic and that the EIR relies on a hypothetical traffic baseline <br />rather than conditions that exist at the time environmental analysis begins. The comment provides <br />references to case law and statutes related to baseline conditions and states that rather than relying on <br />75C-108 <br />