4.0 Environmental Consequences
CHAPTER 4.0
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
According to federal and state regulations, a finding of whether a proposed action significantly affects the
quality of the human environment is determined by considering the context in which it will occur and the
intensity of the action (40 C.F.R. 1508.27; CEQA Guidelines 15126.2[a]). Consistent with these
regulations and guidelines, the impact analyses contained in this chapter follow a step-by-step format where
each potential impact within an issue area is addressed separately. For each impact, there is a separate
subsection on significance thresholds and criteria. The significance threshold is a set of criteria used to
judge whether a given consequence of a specific project alternative is significant. The impact analysis
presentation is organized by alternative. Following the analysis, the level of significance is identified. An
impact is deemed to be either not significant, adverse but not significant, or significant. In the latter
category, impacts may be mitigable (i.e., measures are available to reduce the impact to below a level of
significance), or unmitigable (i.e., the impact cannot be reduced to below a level of significance by mitigation
measures, although mitigation may be proposed to lessen the intensity of the impact). For this project,
several measures have been incorporated into project design as described in Sections 2.4 and 2.5.
As described in Chapter 2.0 (Description of the Proposed Action and Alternatives), the following three
alternatives are considered in detail in this section:
Alternative 1: Replenishment of 12 receiver sites using approximately 2 million cy of dredged sediment
from six borrow sites. There would be two possible construction variations: (a) would occur on a 24-
hour, 7-day per week schedule and (b) would occur with restrictions on construction times and days
consistent with local noise ordinances, where applicable.
Alternative 2: Replenishment of nine receiver sites using approximately 2 million cy of dredged
sediment from six borrow sites. There would be two possible construction variations: (a) would occur
on a 24-hour, 7-day per week schedule and (b) would occur with restrictions on construction times
and days consistent with local noise ordinances, where applicable.
No Action Alternative: No beach replenishment or dredging activities would be implemented.
Detailed analyses of coastal geomorphology and biological resources are contained intechnicalappendices
R
C and D, respectively (bound separately). The appendices reflect studies of various alternatives that are
R
Regional Beach Sand Project EIR/EA
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