Decarbonizing Large Commercial and Industrial Equipment with Hydrogen

2022120069

California Energy Commission

NOE - Notice of Exemption

12/5/2022

12/5/2022

Jason Tancher

California Energy Commission

Utility Engineer

Lead/Public Agency

715 P St
Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 776-0693

jason.tancher@energy.ca.gov

92697

Categorical Exemption

Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15301 ; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15306

Cal. Code Regs., title 14, Section 15301 provides that projects which consist of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public and private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, and which involve negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency's determination, are categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. The proposed project will primarily test and modify existing fossil-fuel burning equipment within existing laboratories, in conjunction with research and paper-based studies. The laboratory-based work will take place in existing facilities at the University of California, Irvine Combustion Laboratory. This laboratory already emits the types of air pollutants expected during testing. This work will be supported by data sets gathered from out-of- state testing at Gas Technology Institute's laboratories in Des Plaines, Illinois. For these reasons, the proposed work will not have any significant effect on the environment and is exempt under Cal. Code Regs., tit 14, Section 15301. Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14 Section 15306 provides that projects which consist of basic data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities, and which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource are categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. The research is described above. There are no sensitive environmental resources at the laboratory site. For these reasons, the proposed work will not have any significant effect on the environment and is exempt under Cal. Code Regs., tit 14, Section 15306, The project will not impact an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern where designated, precisely mapped, and officially adopted pursuant to law by federal, state, or local agencies; does not involve any cumulative impacts of successive projects of the same type in the same place that might be considered significant; does not involve unusual circumstances that might have a significant effect on the environment; will not result in damage to scenic resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; the project site is not included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5; and the project will not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. Therefore, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions listed in CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project, and this project will not have a significant effect on the environment.