Introduction
The primary goals of district's Transportation Planning Program are to develop and implement programs to reduce the emissions generated by on-road mobile sources such as passenger cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles. VCAPCD’s 2018 Emissions Inventory shows that on-road mobile sources constitute 22% of the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and 14% of the reactive organic compound (ROC) emissions in Ventura County. To reduce these emissions, the district adopts control measures in its Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP), reviews projects to ensure that they conform to the plan and coordinates with other governmental agencies on activities.
Control Measures
The district’s AQMP incorporates two types of control measures to reduce the air quality impacts generated by on-road mobile sources:
- Transportation measures promote strategies to change people’s driving behavior, thereby reducing the number of vehicle trips and miles driven.
- Mobile source measures implement technological solutions to reduce emissions such as low- and zero-emission vehicles, vehicle inspection and maintenance, and retirement of high-polluting vehicles.
Conformity with District’s AQMP
Federal conformity regulations implementing Clean Air Act section 176(c) require that the district adopt and implement local rules to ensure that transportation and non-transportation projects conform with the adopted state implementation plan:
“No department, agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Government shall engage in, support in any way or provide financial assistance for, license or permit, or approve, any activity which does not conform to [a state] implementation plan after it has been approved or promulgated under section 110 [of the Clean Air Act]. No metropolitan planning organization designated under section 134 of title 23, United States Code, shall give its approval to any project, program, or plan which does not conform to an implementation plan approved or promulgated under section 110. The assurance of conformity to such an implementation plan shall be an affirmative responsibility of the head of such department, agency, or instrumentality.”
In our case, the adopted state implementation plan is the Ventura County AQMP. District Rule 221 - Transportation Conformity requires that transportation plans, programs and projects conform to the Ventura County AQMP. District Rule 220 - General Conformity applies to non-transportation federal projects that exceed 25 tons per year of either ROC or NOx.
Coordination with Other Agencies
The Transportation Planning section works closely with the Ventura County Transportation Commission, Southern California Association of Governments and other local, state and federal agencies to ensure that control measures are implemented and conformity requirements are followed. This coordination is necessary to ensure that the district continues to make the required progress to achieve clean healthy air in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act and the California Health and Safety Code.
For more information, contact Air Quality Specialists II Holly Galbreath at holly@vcapcd.org or 805-303-3666 or Brian Serros at brian@vcapcd.org or 805-303-3657.