Impacts and Mitigation Measures

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Impacts and Mitigation Measures
Steven Blum
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What is an Impact?

• Impacts Effects (Guidelines 15358)
• CEQA focuses on physical changes
• Purely economic or social impacts (e.g. property
  values) are not environmental impacts subject to
  CEQA analysis

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Significant Impacts

• A significant impact is a substantial or
  potentially substantial adverse change
  inphysical conditions (Guidelines 15382)
• Economic or social impacts may be considered
  significant only if they lead to environmental
  impacts
• May help determine whether physical change is
  significant
• Must be examined if they lead to physical change
  (e.g., urban decay)

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Potentially Significant Impacts

• Direct impacts
• Effects directly attributable to project
• Reasonably foreseeable indirect impacts
• Temporary impacts
• Impacts removed in time and space
• Impacts of implementing a reasonable range of
  compliance measures (e.g. construction, air
  quality and noise)

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More Potentially Significant Impacts

• Growth-inducing effects
• Will the project lead to additional growth?
• Cumulative effects
• Projects contribution in combination with
  effects of other projects

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Typical SED Impacts

• Basin plans/TMDLs Not just a plan on paper
• Basin Planning projects rarely result in direct
  impacts from construction (but its possible)
• Indirect impacts from compliance projects

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More Typical SED Impacts

• The SED must examine and disclose all reasonably
  foreseeable indirect impacts
• Adverse impacts of the plan/TMDL
• Temporary impacts
• Indirect impacts usually derive from
  implementation of alternative compliance measures

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Cumulative Impacts

• A cumulative impact is
• Two or more individual impacts which, taken
  together, result in a significant impact
  (Guidelines 13555)
• Includes impacts resulting from past, present,
  reasonably probable future activities
• Individual impacts may be less than significant
  taken by themselves
• Practical view an impact that results from the
  contributions of many actions
• Example Global Warming
• More detail coming in the next presentation!

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Mitigation and Certified Regulatory Programs

• Basin Plan amendments/TMDLs include alternative
  compliance measures that may result in
  significant effects
• Board cannot normally specify means of compliance
• BUT the SED must include a menu of mitigation
  measures for each significant impact, for each
  alternative compliance method that dischargers
  may undertake

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Mitigation in the SED

• For every potentially significant impact, the
  SED must identify available mitigation measures
  that will reduce or avoid the impact
• If the mitigation measure is not assured, it may
  not serve as the basis for a determination of
  less than significant
• Mitigation measures are not required for
  insignificant effects

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Mitigation in the SED

• Mitigation measures must be feasible
• If part of a determination of less than
  significant, mitigation measures must be fully
  enforceable
• If you are certain that measure(s) will be
  implemented by either the lead or responsible
  agencies, check box for less than significant
  with mitigation incorporated
• If implementation of measure(s) is discretionary
  by another agency check box for potentially
  significant impact

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Mitigation in the SED

• If mitigation is infeasible, the SED must explain
  why
• Legal, economic, technical, other reasons
• Formulation of mitigation measures cannot be
  deferred, but measures may specify mitigating
  performance standards which may be accomplished
  in more than one way

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Five Types of Mitigation
Avoidance Avoid the impact altogether by not taking certain actions or parts of an action
Minimization Minimize impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation
Rectification Rectify the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment
Reduction/ elimination Reduce or eliminate the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment
Compensation Compensate for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments
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Avoidance

• Avoid the impact altogether by not taking certain
  actions or parts of an action

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Rectification or Restoration

• Rectify the impact by repairing, rehabilitating,
  or restoring the affected environment

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Compensation

• Compensate for the impact by replacing or
  providing substitute resources or environments

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The Menu of Mitigation Measures

• SED must identify WHO will be responsible for
  implementing and enforcing the measures
• For each potentially significant impact, the SED
  must explain HOW the implementing agency can
  mitigate that impact
• Think creatively about other Water Board
  authorities and our ability to require mitigation
  
• Such as site cleanup orders, conditional waivers,
  general permit conditions

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Summary

• Basin Plan amendment may result in significant
  adverse impacts
• TMDLs and some BPAs must analyze reasonably
  foreseeable compliance methods
• Compliance measures may result in adverse impacts
  
• SED must analyze and disclose adverse impacts
• SED must include a menu of mitigation measures
  that would mitigate each of the impacts

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Questions?