The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.
This bill would exempt from CEQA certain electrical infrastructure projects intended to provide capacity or enhance reliability to accommodate the increased electrical demand or forecasted electrical demand associated with transportation electrification, building electrification, distributed energy projects, including energy storage projects, or the interconnection of a renewable generation source.
This bill would exempt from CEQA the construction, upgrade, modification, or expansion of a facility to store, for later transmission or distribution, electricity previously generated by, and transmitted to, the facility and certain related facilities.
By requiring a lead agency to determine the applicability of the above-described exemptions to a project, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
CEQA requires each state agency to establish, by resolution or order, time limits for completing the environmental review of a project where the state agency is the lead agency for the project, as specified.
This bill would require a state agency, acting as the lead agency, to complete its environmental review for an electrical infrastructure project and to approve or deny the project within 2 years of the submission of an application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure to the state agency. If the state agency fails to meet this time period, the bill would require the state agency to submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons for why the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, it is the policy of the state that each electrical corporation operate its electric distribution grid in its service territory, including owning, controlling, operating, managing, maintaining, planning, engineering, designing, and constructing its own electrical distribution grid, and do so in a safe, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective manner. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to continue to make reasonable investments in its electric distribution grid, and requires that each electrical corporation continue to have a reasonable opportunity to fully recover those costs from its customers in a manner determined by the commission.
This bill would state the intent of the
Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to optimize electric distribution grid planning in support of building and transportation electrification.