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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

93

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bennett, Ortega, and Rogers)

December 2, 2024

An act to add Section 21080.52 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: yes

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA provides that when an EIR has been prepared for a project, no subsequent or supplemental EIR shall be required by a lead agency or responsible agency, unless specified events occur.

This bill would require a lead agency, before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, defined as a facility or site with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export to prepare or cause to be prepared an EIR. The bill would prohibit a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district from relying on an existing EIR to issue a discretionary approval for, or to, a large-volume bulk coal facility, and would require a subsequent or new EIR to be prepared, if any of a list of specified conditions are met, including that there is an increase in design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility, as provided; there is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly address the type of coal handled, stored, or exported; or there is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported. The bill would require an EIR or subsequent EIR prepared pursuant to these provisions to, among other things, evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility’s potential to generate PM2.5 and PM10 fugitive dust emissions during construction and operations, and to require mitigation measures, as provided. The bill would apply these provisions to a discretionary approval that is pending or made after June 4, 2026, as specified.

Because the bill would create new duties for a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The West Oakland community has a high cumulative air pollution exposure burden, a significant number of sensitive receptors, and includes census tracts that have been designated as disadvantaged communities. West Oakland is impacted by mobile sources of pollution, including diesel trucks and buses, and pollution from industry operations and adjacent Interstates 580, 980, and 880.

(b) West Oakland was selected as a first-year priority community under the Community Air Protection Program pursuant to Assembly Bill 617 (Chapter 136 of the Statutes of 2017).

(c) West Oakland residents are predominantly people of color, and the life expectancy for an African American child born and raised in West Oakland is at least 15 years fewer than for a white child born and raised in wealthier Oakland neighborhoods.

(d) The State Air Resources Board funded peer-reviewed research that identified significant increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in California due to passing coal-carrying trains, the staging of full and empty coal train cars, and coal storage and handling at an export terminal.

(e) PM2.5 and other air pollution from shipping, handling, and storing coal have significant health effects that disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income individuals.

(f) The classification of coal as lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, or anthracite describes the coal’s properties and bears on its environmental impacts.

(g) The United States Environmental Protection Agency found that PM2.5 poses the greatest risk to health of particulate matter pollutants.

SEC. 2.

Section 21080.52 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

21080.52.

(a) For purposes of this section, both of the following definitions apply:

(1) “Large-volume bulk coal facility” means a facility or site with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export. “Large-volume bulk coal facility” does not include a building, use, or infrastructure located at the same site, located within the same specific plan or redevelopment area, or covered by the same environmental impact report as a large-volume bulk coal facility, if that building, use, or infrastructure does not handle, store, transport, or export coal, even if the building, use, or infrastructure was considered to be part of an overall project previously evaluated in an environmental impact report that also addressed the large-volume bulk coal facility.

(2) “Type of coal” refers to the classification of coal as lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, or anthracite.

(b) Before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, a lead agency shall prepare or cause to be prepared an environmental impact report pursuant to this division.

(c) Issuance of any permit by an air pollution control district or air quality management district that authorizes construction, or increases potential emissions, of a large-volume bulk coal facility shall be considered a discretionary approval, as that term is used in subdivision (a) of Section 21080, and shall not be exempt from this division.

(d) Independent of the conditions for a subsequent environmental impact report set forth in Section 21166 and guidelines adopted pursuant to Section 21083, a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district shall not rely on an existing environmental impact report to issue a discretionary approval for or to a large-volume bulk coal facility, and a subsequent environmental impact report report, or a new environmental impact report pursuant to subdivision (e), shall be required, if any of the following conditions are met:

(1) There is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the environmental impact report did not explicitly address the type of coal to be handled, stored, or exported.

(2) There is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the environmental impact report did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported.

(3) There is an increase in the design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility so that the total amount of coal handled, stored, or exported exceeds 5,000,000 short tons per year.

(e) (1) If a previously certified environmental impact report for a large-volume bulk coal facility did not specifically analyze the environmental impacts of coal handling, storage, and transportation, that environmental impact report does not retain informational value.

(2) A lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district shall not rely on an environmental impact report described in paragraph (1) and shall treat a large-volume bulk coal facility analyzed in that environmental impact report as a new project, independent of the project that was analyzed in that environmental impact report.

(f) In addition to the other requirements of this division and guidelines adopted pursuant to Section 21083, an environmental impact report or subsequent environmental impact report prepared pursuant to this section shall do not be certified, and the project shall not be approved, unless the environmental impact report or subsequent environmental impact report does both of the following:

(1) Identify the type or types of coal and potential volume of coal that may be handled, stored, or exported at a large-volume bulk coal facility, and evaluate the environmental impacts of, and mitigation for, the handling, storage, or export of the coal type or types and volume of coal.

(2) (A) Evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility’s potential to generate fugitive dust emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM10) during construction and operations and require mitigation measures sufficient to prevent a significant increase in ambient concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 beyond the facility’s boundaries.