Working Group #5 Update March 15, 2024
The South Coast AQMD has initiated a public process to develop guidance for evaluating cumulative air quality impacts from increased concentrations of air toxics for projects in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Here’s a summary of the previous working group meetings:
- Working Group Meeting #1 (February 17, 2022):
- Gathered information and shared the initial objective.
- Identified the importance of conducting cumulative impact analysis.
- Recognized the need for further guidance on analyzing cumulative impacts of air toxics.
- Initiated a public process to develop a phased qualitative and quantitative approach, including various mapping tools, defining geographic scope using a range of distances, and developing a cumulative significance threshold.
- Working Group Meeting #2 (May 26, 2022):
- Shared valuable feedback from stakeholders.
- Presented staff’s response based on stakeholders’ feedback.
- Working Group Meeting #3 (January 24, 2023):
- Summarized stakeholder feedback and comments on defining significance thresholds, evaluating incremental project impacts qualitatively and quantitatively, and combining background and incremental impacts.
- Working Group Meeting #4 (June 6, 2023):
- Discussed proposed process steps and a tiered approach for cumulative Toxic Air Contaminants (TAC) impacts analyses at regional plan and project levels, including policy concepts, cancer risk impacts, and proposed concepts for analyses.
Working Group Meeting #5 (March 20, 2024): To provide updates on additional criteria and retrospective sensitivity analysis for conducting a cumulative impact analysis for air toxics and to seek feedback on the information presented.