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Air Quality Assessment
The District’s Planning and Evaluation Division assists project applicants and lead agencies to prepare environmental documents under the California Environmental Quality Act by providing air quality data and other needed information. Staff also reviews and comments on air quality sections of environmental documents. We also occasionally prepare air quality sections of environmental documents. District staff is available for consultation at any time in the project review process.
What is CEQA?The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides governmental decisionmakers and the public with information about the potential, significant environmental effects of proposed projects. Projects are classified as either discretionary or ministerial.
CEQA applies to all discretionary activities proposed to be carried out or approved by California public agencies, unless an exemption applies. When a public official in a governmental agency can use its judgment in deciding whether and how to carry out or approve a project, it is a discretionary project. If the public official of the governmental agency merely applies the law to the facts as presented, but uses little or no personal judgment, the project is ministerial, and exempt from CEQA.
The goals of CEQA are for California’s public agencies to identify the significant environmental effects of their actions; and, either avoid those significant environmental effects, where feasible; or mitigate those significant environmental effects, where feasible. By identifying and discussing all significant impacts, CEQA allows the project applicant to change the project to mitigate adverse effects; lead agencies to be provided the information necessary to impose conditions on the project to mitigate adverse effects; the public access to information about the effects of projects; and policy boards to receive important information for determining whether the project “protects the public health, safety and welfare.”
What are the Ventura County Air Quality Assessment Guidelines?The Ventura County Air Quality Assessment Guidelines is an advisory document prepared by the District that provides lead agencies, consultants, and project applicants with a framework and uniform methods for preparing air quality impact assessments and the air quality section of environmental documents for projects that require discretionary entitlements.
Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, the Guidelines recommend specific criteria and threshold levels for determining whether a proposed project may have a significant adverse air quality impact. The Guidelines also provide mitigation measures that may be useful for mitigating the air quality impacts of proposed projects.
What is URBEMIS?URBEMIS (short for Urban Emissions) is a computer program for estimating air pollutant emissions from land use develop projects. A screening analysis for a typical project can be accomplished in a matter of minutes. Complete, detailed analysis of emissions commonly found in EIRs and other environmental documents can also be accomplished with relative ease. The Ventura County Air Quality Assessment Guidelines recommends use of the latest version of URBEMIS for estimating emissions from proposed land use development projects.
How is the District involved?The Environmental Review Section of the Planning and Evaluation Division of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District assists project applicants and lead agencies with preparation of environmental documents by providing air quality data and other needed information.
The District also reviews and comments on air quality sections of environmental documents and occasionally prepares air quality sections of environmental documents.
District staff is available for consultation at any time during the project review process.
Stay informedThe California Environmental Quality Act statute and guidelines are available from the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) website at: http://www.ceres.ca.gov/planning/ceqa
A printed copy of the District's Guidelines are available for purchase at the District. The Guidelines also are available for downloading free of charge at: http://www.vcapcd.org/pubs/Planning/VCAQGuidelines.pdf
The latest version of URBEMIS is available at: www.urbemis.com
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