Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Section 4(f) Determination Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences 3.1. Introduction This chapter provides a brief overview of the regulatory context and methodology to assess effects on environmental resources; describes existing conditions in the Affected Environment; assesses the potential environmental impacts to the natural and social environment of the No Build and Build Alternatives defined in Chapter 2; and identifies mitigation measures where relevant. Consistent with FRA’s Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts,1 evaluated resources include: air quality, water quality, noise and vibration, wetlands, floodplains, the coastal zone, energy, climate change, aesthetics and design quality, transportation, possible barriers to handicapped and elderly, land use and zoning, socioeconomic impacts, environmental justice (EJ), public health and safety, parks and recreational areas, cultural resources, construction period impacts, and indirect and cumulative impacts. Environmental resources not present within the study area (and, therefore, not evaluated in this document) include threatened and endangered species, use of natural resources (other than energy), and ecological systems. MassDOT evaluated these resources in DEIR Appendix 5, Natural Resources Technical Report.2 As reported in this documentation, the Project Team consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service in accordance with the U.S. Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531-1543) and Section 7 requirements at 16 U.S.C. 1536.3 Agency correspondence is provided in Appendix C of this EA. A full environmental evaluation of these resources, conducted during the state review process, is detailed in documents on the SSX project website: https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/southstationexpansion. 3.2. Air Quality The federal, state, and local regulations applicable to air quality at the project sites include the federal Clean Air Act, as amended (CAA and CAAA), and the established set of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for various criteria pollutants; the Massachusetts Ambient Air Quality Standards (MAAQS), which are identical to the NAAQS; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) General Conformity Rule (40 CFR 51 Subpart W); and U.S. EPA Determining Conformity Of Federal Actions To State Or Federal Implementation Plans (40 CFR 93). Air quality assessments prepared for the SSX project included regional and local components, each with specific study areas. The local component assessment included a review of nearby traffic intersections that would be affected by motor vehicle traffic associated with the South Station site and the layover facility sites. Additionally, MassDOT conducted a regional analysis of SSX project-related direct and indirect emissions. An emission inventory is a listing, by source, of the amount of air pollutants discharged into the atmosphere for a given time period (typically one year). MassDOT and FRA (the Project Team) prepared project-related emissions inventories for the NEPA Air Quality analysis to estimate emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter up to 10 1 Federal Railroad Administration. Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts, Federal Register 28545, Vol. 64, No. 101, Wednesday, May 26, 1999. https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L02710 2 Additional information is provided in Massachusetts Department of Transportation, South Station Expansion Project. Draft Environmental Impact Report, Appendix 5, Natural Resources Technical Report. October 2014. Available at: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/southstationexpansion/Documents/DEIR.aspx 3 U.S. Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531-1543), Section 7 requirements at 16 U.S.C. 1536, December 1973. Accessed October 2012. http://epw.senate.gov/esa73.pdf. South Station Expansion March 2017 Page 3-1 Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Section 4(f) Determination Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences and 2.5 microns in diameter (PM10/PM2.5), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The full air quality evaluation is provided in the DEIR Appendix 10, Air Quality Technical Report.4 3.2.1. Existing Conditions The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) maintains a statewide network of monitoring stations that continuously measure pollutant concentrations in the ambient air. These stations provide data to assess compliance with the NAAQS and the MAAQS and to evaluate the effectiveness of pollution control strategies. For the most recently available full year of data (2012) at representative monitoring stations nearest to the SSX project, there were two exceedances of the 8-hour Ozone (O3) standard and two exceedances of the annual Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) standard. There were no exceedances in the air quality study area of any other NAAQS or MAAQS in 2012. U.S. EPA designates geographic regions in which measured ambient concentrations of air pollutants have exceeded the NAAQS as nonattainment areas. Areas of the country that have measured pollutant concentrations that are less than the NAAQS are designated attainment areas. Areas that have attained the standards after a period of nonattainment and that have plans in place to reduce emissions are classified as maintenance areas. The SSX project is located in Boston, Suffolk County, which is part of the Boston- Lawrence-Worcester Eastern Massachusetts Nonattainment area. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was previously designated as a Serious Nonattainment Area with respect to the 1997 8-hour ozone standard of 0.08 parts per million (ppm). However, all air quality monitors now show that Massachusetts meets the 1997 ozone standard statewide. U.S. EPA updated the 8-hour ozone standard to 0.075 ppm in 2008, and designated Massachusetts as in attainment statewide except for Dukes County (Martha’s Vineyard) in 2011. On January 30, 1996, U.S. EPA published a direct final rule approving Massachusetts State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision request to redesignate the Boston metropolitan area Carbon Monoxide (CO) nonattainment area to attainment. This area includes the communities of Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Quincy, Revere, and Somerville. The direct final rule (61 Federal Register 2918) became effective April 1, 1996. Massachusetts redesignation request, approved in the January 30, 1996 direct final rule, also included a maintenance demonstration and contingency plans, which outline Massachusetts control strategy for maintenance of the CO NAAQS. The maintenance plan provisions under Section 175A of the CAA require that maintenance of the relevant NAAQS be provided for at least 10 years after redesignation, followed by an additional 10-year maintenance period. The 20-year maintenance period for the Boston metropolitan CO maintenance area expired on April 1, 2016. Therefore, the Boston metropolitan area is no longer required to demonstrate General Conformity for the Boston metropolitan CO maintenance area. However, the rest of the maintenance plan requirements continue to apply in accordance with the SIP. 4 Additional information is provided in Massachusetts Department of Transportation, South Station Expansion Project. Draft Environmental Impact Report, Appendix 10, Air Quality Technical Report. October 2014. Available at: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/southstationexpansion/Documents/DEIR.aspx March 2017 South Station Expansion Page 3-2 Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Section 4(f) Determination Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences 3.2.2. Environmental Consequences No Build Alternative In the No Build Alternative, train, car, and bus volumes will increase over time. However, large decreases in pollutant emissions in the vicinity of South Station between 2012 and 2025 are anticipated due to significant reductions in U.S. EPA-mandated pollutant emission standards for locomotive and motor vehicle engines5. These significant reductions in emission factors would offset the growth of motor vehicle traffic and train volumes in the area around South Station. Small increases in pollutant emissions in the vicinity of South Station between 2025 and 2035 are anticipated, due to relatively small reductions in U.S. EPA pollutant emission standards for locomotive and vehicle engines and modest increases in motor vehicle volumes. These small reductions in emission standards would not completely offset the growth of traffic and train volumes in the area around South Station. In the No Build Alternative, no MBTA trains would lay over at the Widett Circle site. Thus, pollutant emissions will not change at this site. There are 10 trains per day currently using the Readville – Yard 2 site for layover; these trains would continue to use Readville – Yard 2 in the No Build Alternative. Build Alternative Project-related impacts during routine operations would include emissions generated by locomotives entering and leaving the South Station Rail Terminal and by related layover facilities and vehicular traffic. Section 3.18 discusses MassDOT’s approach to mitigate temporary construction-related air quality impacts. Table 3-1 presents the sum of total project-related criteria pollutant emissions at the South Station and layover sites. Table 3-1 — Total Project-Related Criteria Pollutant Emissions at the South Station and Layover