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Negative Declarations, Mitigated Negative Declarations, and EIRs
This outline was developed by California Integrated Waste Management Board staff as a
guide to Lead Agencies in the preparation of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
documentation and to Responsible Agencies for their review of documentation for the
construction and/or operation of a transfer/processing facility requiring a full solid
waste facility permit (SWFP). All of this information is pertinent to the processing
and issuance of a SWFP and is of great benefit if discussed fully in an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) or at an appropriate level of detail in a Negative Declaration (ND) or
Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) developed for the issuance of a SWFP. The
appropriate level of detail should be determined by early consultation and cooperation
between the Lead Agency, Local Enforcement Agency (LEA) and other Responsible Agencies.
I. General Background Information
- Project Location (including Township, Range and APN where appropriate)
- Owner and operator of the facility (property owner if different)
- Name and registration number of site design engineer
- Need for project
- Area served and population
- city
- county
- out-of-county
- Service projections for the life of the facility taking into account AB 939 waste
diversion mandates
- Existing facilities
- Regional map/ Surrounding Area map
- Conformance to Waste Management Plan (compliance with PRC Section 50000)
- Designation in General Plan (compliance with PRC Section 50000.5)
- Initial Study and environmental checklist.
II. Project Description
- Site Description
- topographical map
- size of site (acres, square feet)
- site design, including but not limited to site/layout map with building locations, turn
around areas, storage areas, well locations, and property boundaries
- total capacity
- average and maximum quantity of individual types of waste received daily
- sources of individual types of waste received daily
- expected facility life span
- current land use
- historic land use
- current zoning
- detailed environmental setting, including but not limited to climatological factors,
physical setting, ground and surface water, soils, surrounding land use
- ultimate land uses (postclosure)
- type of users of the site (commercial, public, private)
- construction description (e.g. grading plan)
- list of approvals required by federal, state and local agencies in order to implement
project
- Design and Operations
- verification of compliance with USEPA, California Department of Health Services,
Department of Toxic Substances Control, Air Quality Management District or Air Pollution
Control District, California Integrated Waste Management Board , Regional Water Quality
Control Board, State Minimum Standards for solid waste handling and disposal requirements
- general facility design
- configuration and equipment
- energy recovery components
- resource recovery components
- screening of incompatible wastes
- typical operation cycle, processing time for each phase
- waste characterization
- waste handling method
- removal frequency
- final deposition: route, distance and time to travel to disposal site
- equipment
- number and types
- emissions
- stand-by equipment availability, number and type of equipment
- operating days and hours (days/week, hours/day, start stop times)
- describe the operating cycle of the facility including hours waste is received and
transferred
- traffic
- access routes (ingress/egress)
- unloading/loading (recovered materials, waste transfer vehicles)
- on-site roads
- public and commercial routing
- number and types of vehicles entering and leaving the site per day
- emissions
- provisions for site security (fencing, gates, police or security protection)
- fire controls
- nearest fire department
- on-site
- vector controls
- litter controls
- odor controls
- dust controls
- drainage
- surface water run-on and run-off
- retention ponds, basins
- noise and vibration control provisions
- noise levels generated by the project (construction and operation)
- vibration levels generated by the project (construction and operation)
- weight scales
- resource recovery
- diversion projections (compliance with AB 939)
- types
- volume
- storage
- handling
- market
- energy recovery
- amount
- type
- uses
- delivery
- water supply
- source, well or municipal, sufficiency
- leachate and waste water control
- separator
- disposal, public sewer or other
- air emissions
- energy consumption
- transfer facility
- transportation
- resource recovery activities
- method of handling special wastes (liquids, sludge, white goods)
- description of method of handling hazardous waste
- exclusion
- storage
- removal
- number of employees and duties
- site improvements
- drinking water (well, municipal, bottled)
- sanitary facilities
- communications
- office building
- risk of upset
- contingency plan
- public health and safety
- employee health and safety
- visual screening (compatible with specific general plan policies or viewshed ordinances)
III. Existing Environment
- Climate
- average precipitation
- seasonal temperature range
- wind conditions (windrose)
- evaporation rate
- Air
- baseline air quality data (attainment status)
- existing emissions
- landfill equipment
- hauling vehicles
- other emission sources
- project emissions
- landfill equipment
- hauling vehicles
- other emission sources
- dust including PM-10 data for project construction operations
- landfill gas emissions
- leachate evaporation
- odor
- Surface water
- existing surface waters (streams, rivers, etc.)
- drainage courses
- average seasonal flows
- greatest anticipated 24 hour or 6 day rainfall amount
- beneficial uses of waters
- water quality analyses
- watershed characteristics
- Subsurface water
- existing subsurface water (aquifer,aquiclude, etc.)
- beneficial uses of waters
- water quality analyses (site specific tests)
- location of wells within one mile of site
- depth to groundwater (from site specific tests)
- Geology
- description of subsurface strata (in place)
- soils
- unified soil classification (CH, OH, etc.)
- soil texture, percent passing through #200 sieve
- liquid limits
- plasticity index
- permeability of soils (field samples)
- seismicity
- estimate of seismic risk to the site (faults underlying the site, distance to nearest
fault, maximum probable earthquake (MPE), maximum ground acceleration (MGA) of fault,
etc.)
- liquefaction potential
- differential settlement potential
- boring logs (include locations)
- mineral deposits (including gavels)
- Land
- description of site surface
- maximum slope on the site
- slope stability
- Flora
- description of site flora
- vegetation which will be permanently removed
- relation between vegetation and slope stability and erodability
- rare and endangered flora (including takes)
- Fauna
- description of site fauna
- resident population of rodents and other potential vectors
- rare and endangered fauna (including takes)
- Noise
- local noise ordinance criteria
- background noise levels at and adjacent to site
- location of noise receptors (residents, schools, hospitals)
- Social
- Land use compatibility
- zoning
- adjacent land use
- distance to nearest residences
- Plan consistency
- general plan
- regional plan (CIWMP)
- Historical/Cultural
- archaeological sites
- historical sites
- cultural sites
- Traffic
- existing traffic conditions
- Aesthetics (compatible with specific general plan policies or viewshed ordinances)
IV. Project related impacts to the following environmental assessment areas
and/or cumulative impacts
and significant impacts remaining after mitigation
- Climate
- Air
- Water
- Geology
- Land
- Flora
- Fauna
- Noise
- Social
- Historical/Cultural
- Traffic
- Aesthetics (compatible with specific general plan policies or viewshed ordinances)
V. Alternatives (if required)
- Review of alternative locations
- Other alternatives (e.g. reduced project)
- No project
VI. Executive Summary
- Summary of project and consequences
- Impacts, mitigation measures and alternatives (table, outline)
- Areas of controversy
- Resolution of issues
VII. Organizations and People Consulted
- Public response
- Public meetings
- Contributors to report (names and qualifications)
- Persons consulted
VIII. Mitigation Reporting or Monitoring Program (table)
- Identification of impacts
- Identification of mitigation measures
- Implementation schedule
- Monitoring frequency
- Responsible party
- Enforcement method
- Conflict resolution plan
- Compliance with AB 314 and SB 749
CIWMB California Environmental Quality Act Review
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance is required for the
establishment, expansion, or change in operation(s) of a Solid Waste Facility (SWF)
requiring the issuance or revision of a full Solid Waste Facility Permit (SWFP).
Under CEQA Guidelines, CCR Section 15096, the CIWMB acting as a Responsible Agency, is
required to use the environmental document (ED) prepared by the Lead Agency in the CIWMB
permit approval or concurrence process. Once the ED is completed by the Lead Agency,
CIWMB staff, as a Responsible Agency, must determine whether or not the evaluation of
potential environmental impacts assessed in the ED is adequate for CIWMB use in the
permitting process.
The purpose of CIWMB staff's review of an ED, during the preparation of the document,
is to help decision-makers 1) identify potential impacts from proposed projects, 2)
determine whether any such impacts are significant, and 3) ascertain whether significant
impacts can be mitigated to a level of insignificance in compliance with the CEQA statutes
and guidelines. In order for CIWMB staff to ascertain that the ED is adequate for
our use in the permitting process, the proposed project must be described in sufficient
detail and the potential environmental impacts that may result from the proposed project
must be identified and evaluated clearly in the environmental assessment and offer
"mitigating measures, if any, included in the project to avoid potentially
significant effects" (CEQA Guidelines, Article 6, Section 15071[e]).
If the Lead Agency identifies a potential significant environmental impact but finds
that the impact is less than significant or that no mitigation is available or necessary,
supporting documentation and/or studies should be specifically referenced and be made
available for review or included in the ED to support such analysis.
CEQA Analysis and SWFP Conditions
CEQA Guidelines (CCR) Section 15063(a)(1) states that: "All phases of
project planning, implementation and operation must be considered in the Initial Study of
the project. "This consideration, when evaluating for a SWFP revision, should
consider the potential environmental impacts of any changes in design and operation of the
facility that were not specifically considered in the existing SWFP.
When determining the adequacy of an ED for purposes of SWFP concurrence, CIWMB staff
will compare the design and operation of the facility as described in the SWFP with the
project as described and evaluated in the ED. The first question is: does the CEQA
evaluation for potential impacts resulting from the project thoroughly assess the
potential primary and secondary impacts to the environment and/or public health and
safety? The second question is: does the CEQA evaluation in the ED support the
conditions of the proposed permit? For instance, does the ED also assess the
potential traffic, noise, dust, vector and other impacts that can be associated with a
significant increase in permitted waste throughput requested in a SWFP? When this
type of information is included and addressed in the ED, the CEQA process is greatly
facilitated. When this type of information is not included in the project
description or elsewhere in the ED, it becomes very difficult for CIWMB staff to determine
the adequacy of the ED for purposes of our environmental evaluation.
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