6. Certification of Supplemental Final EIR

In response to SCE's petition, the Commission's Energy Division has overseen preparation of a Supplemental Draft EIR, consisting of a new Executive Summary and Introduction (Section A), a description of the project modifications (Section B), an updated Visual Resource analysis (Section C.1), and a discussion of the other resource areas where the proposed changes in the project will not result in a substantial change to previously-identified impacts (Section C.2). The Commission released the Supplemental Draft EIR for public comment for the period November 30, 2011, through January 16, 2012.

The Supplemental Final EIR was completed after notice and opportunity for public comment on the Supplemental Draft EIR, as required by CEQA. The Supplemental Final EIR, which includes the Supplemental Draft EIR, documents all written and oral comments made on it the Supplemental Draft EIR, and responds to the comments, as required by CEQA. The Supplemental Final EIR identifies the significant and unavoidable environmental impacts of the proposed changes to the project, as well as the mitigation measures that will avoid or substantially lessen them, where mitigation is possible.

All mitigation identified in the Supplemental Final EIR can be accomplished by extending to the modified project the Mitigation, Monitoring, Reporting and Compliance Plan (MMRCP) adopted for the approved project. In other words, the Supplemental Final EIR does not require any new mitigation (that is, no mitigation of an entirely different kind or type than the mitigation already specified in the MMRCP) but rather, requires that previously identified mitigation be applied to the project modifications, which we make a condition of our approval. For this reason, a second MMRCP is unnecessary and has not been prepared.

The Supplemental Final EIR was presented to us; we have reviewed Supplemental Final EIR and we have considered the information contained in it, in conjunction with the information in the Final EIR/Recirculated Final EIR. We certify that the Supplemental Final EIR has been completed in compliance with CEQA and that the Supplemental Final EIR reflects our independent judgment and analysis. Further, we have appended to today's decision, as Attachment A, the separate CEQA findings entitled "CPUC CEQA Findings of Fact."