11. Overriding Considerations
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines § 15093, the Commission may only approve a project that results in significant and unavoidable impacts upon a finding that there are overriding considerations. The Red Bluff Substation project will enable the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm to interconnect to the CAISO-controlled transmission grid, aiding in progress towards federal and state greenhouse gas reduction and renewable electricity goals, including the requirements set forth in the California Renewable Portfolio Standard Program,4 Assembly Bill (AB) 32 (California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006), the Governor's Executive Order S-14-08 to increase the state's Renewable Energy Standard to 33% renewable energy by 2020, and Title XVII, Section 1705, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (authorizing a new program for rapid deployment of, among other things, renewable energy projects). For these reasons, we find that there are overriding considerations that support our approval of the Red Bluff Substation project, whether configured as Alternative 1 (Red Bluff Substation A and Access Road 2, Gen-Tie Line GT-A-1 and Solar Farm Layout B) or by utilizing Gen-Tie Line GT-A-2, despite its significant and unavoidable impacts on air resources, cultural resources and visual resources under either configuration.
SCE's witness Jorge Chacon also asserts that the project will provide additional benefits of (1) maximizing the use of the existing transmission system in the Desert Center area by establishing an interconnection to it; (2) improving the reliability of the transmission grid following interconnection of new generation resources in compliance with reliability criteria requirement by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, CAISO, and SCE's planning design guidelines an criteria; (3) allowing SCE to construct facilities in a manner that will minimize service interruptions and environmental impacts; and (4) create construction jobs. With respect to item (1), it is not apparent that establishing an interconnection to the existing transmission system is a benefit of the project so much as a description of it. With respect to items (2) and (3), it is not apparent that compliance with required reliability criteria and minimizing service interruptions and environmental impacts are benefits of the project so much as best business and legal requirements for its construction. With respect to item (4), while the creation of construction jobs is a societal and economic benefit, SCE does not offer evidence to gauge whether the construction jobs that will be created by this project are a sufficient benefit to override the significant and unavoidable impacts on air resources, cultural resources and visual resources.
4 The California Renewable Portfolio Standards Program was established by Senate Bill (SB) 1078 (Stats. 2002, ch. 516, Sec. 3, codified as Pub. Util. Code §§ 399.11 et seq., effective January 1, 2003). The Renewable Portfolio Standards Program or related elements have been amended several times, including by SB 107 (Stats. 2006, ch. 464), AB 1969 (Stats. 2006, ch. 731), SB 1036 (Stats. 2007, ch. 685), SB 380 (Stats. 2008, ch. 544), SB 32 (Stats. 2009, ch. 328), SB 695 (Stats. 2009, ch. 337), and SB 2 (2011-12 First Extraordinary Session, Stats. 2011, ch 1).
