| SECTION 5.0 | ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING, IMPACTS, AND MITIGATION |
| PROJECT ALTERNATIVES |
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Sections 5.2 through 5.6 of this Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) present summary assessments of the potential environmental effects that could result from implementation of the Project alternatives considered for the Trans Bay Cable Project (Project). This section also presents mitigation measures, where appropriate, to avoid or minimize potential environmental effects associated with the Project alternatives. The Project alternatives that are assessed in this EIR are:
The general locations of the alternative converter station sites are shown on Figure 3-1. The locations of the alternative converter station sites in San Francisco are shown on Map A.2-1 (Sheet 1 of 10), and the alternative site locations in Pittsburg are shown on Map A.2-1 (Sheet 10 of 10).
The organization of this section differs substantially from the preceding Section 4.0 which addresses the proposed Project. Issue areas are compiled within the framework of each Project alternative that is addressed. In the discussion of each alternative, the information related to the regulatory setting is the same as presented in each of the environmental topic area discussions presented in Section 4.0, and is based on the same references identified in Section 4.0. All environmental impact significance thresholds identified in Section 4.0 in each environmental topic area are also used in characterizing impacts in this alternatives analysis. Unless differences in the environmental setting and/or impact discussions are specifically addressed in this alternatives analysis, the environmental setting and/or impact information presented in Section 4.0 for the proposed San Francisco HWC Converter Station site applies to all three of the San Francisco Mirant Converter Station alternatives and to the San Francisco Sheedy Converter Station Alternative. Similarly, the environmental setting and/or impact information presented in Section 4.0 for the proposed Pittsburg Standard Oil Converter Station site applies to both the Pittsburg West Tenth Street alternatives and to the Pittsburg Mirant Converter Station Alternative. Where applicable, the resource topic assessments presented in Section 5.0 refer back to the corresponding assessments in Section 4.0 to reduce redundancy.
A comparison of Project alternatives, including the proposed Project and the No Project Alternative, is presented in Section 6.0. Alternatives that were considered but eliminated from further consideration are discussed in Section A.8.3 of Appendix A.
The potential environmental effects of the alternative Project components are analyzed in subsequent sections for the following environmental issue areas:
The summary impact assessments for the Project alternatives follow. The cumulative impact analysis is presented in Section 7.0.
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