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Hacienda TOD Standards and Design Guidelines Initial Study The City of Pleasanton requires all development projects to conform to the most current California Building Lode as amended by Pleuanton Municipal Code Chapter 20.08: Building Code. Thus the project sponsor would be required to design and build all structures to withstand predicted peak accelerations of a maximum credible earthquake. Future development of the three project sites would require an NPDES permit. Implementation of the required NPDES permit would reduce this impact to a less- than-significant level for soil ero issues. No Impact. The Alquist-Priolo map for the project vicinity shows no fault trace or Alquist - Priolo special studies zone on or adjacent to any of the three project sites. The project area is located about '/a mile south of the Mount Diablo Fault and approximately 2 miles cast of the Calaverass Fault. Therefore fault rupture would not he expected to impact. the project. The sites are generally levet with no hills located nearby. Therefore, landsliding in the project vicinity would be unlikely. Sanitary sewers would serve the project vicinity and development resulting from the proposed zoning change would not involve continued or proposed used of septic systems. Less Than Potentially Significant Less Than No Significant with Mitigation Significant Impact Impact Incorporation Impact 7. Greenhouse Gas Emissions -- Would the project: a) Generate greenhouse gas emissions, either directly or indirectly, X that may have a significant effect on the environment% b) Conflict with an applicable plan, prlicy or regulation adopted for X the purpose of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases? Environmental Setting Description of the Greenhouse Effect. Heat retention within the atmosphere is an essential process to sustain life on Earth. The natural process through which heat is retained in the troposphere is called the "greenhouse effect." The greenhouse effect traps heat in the troposphere through a three -fold process as follows: Short -wave radiation emitted by the Sun is absorbed by the Earth; the Earth emits a portion of this energy in the form of long -wave radiation; and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the upper atmosphere absorb and emit this long -wave radiation into space and toward the Earth. This "trapping" of the long -wave (thermal) radiation emitted back toward the Earth is the underlying process of the greenhouse effect. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth's average temperature would be approximately -18 degrees Celsius ( °C) (0° Fahrenheit [ instead of its present 14 °C (57 °F) (National Climatic Data Center 2008). The most abundant GHGs are water vapor and carbon dioxide. Many other trace gases have greater ability to absorb and re- radiate long -wave radiation, but they are not as plentiful. Primary Greenhouse Gases. Greenhouse gases include, but are not limited to, Carbon dioxide (CO,), Methane (CH,), Nitrous oxide (N,O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulfur hexafluoride. Draft, Subject to Revision 14 2/11/2(111