California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

The California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code Section 21000, et seq., hereafter "CEQA") applies to discretionary projects to be carried out or approved by public agencies. A basic purpose of CEQA is to "inform governmental decision-makers and the public about the potential, significant environmental effects of the proposed activities." (Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), hereinafter "CEQA Guidelines," Section 15002).

The proposed amending of the CPCN for PSREC and extending of its service territory is subject to CEQA and the Commission must issue a discretionary decision without which the proposed changes to the CPCN cannot proceed. Under CEQA this Commission must act as either a Lead or Responsible Agency. The Lead Agency is the public agency with the greatest responsibility for supervising or approving the project as a whole.⁵

In this instance LMUD is the Lead Agency for this project under CEQA, and the Commission is a Responsible Agency. As the Lead Agency, LMUD on January 4, 2002 filed a Notice of Exemption for this project. LMUD determined that the project was exempt from CEQA under Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), which provides an exemption "where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment"

As a Responsible Agency, the Commission's role is therefore limited to reviewing the environmental consequences of the proposed transfer of customers and service territory from LMUD to PSREC as part of its discretionary approval of this application. In general, the Commission must consider the Lead Agency's Environmental Impact Report or Negative Declaration prior to acting upon or approving the project.⁶ We are not aware of any information which would suggest the Lead Agency's finding of exemption was not reasonable or in error. Accordingly, we find that the Lead Agency reasonably concluded in its Notice of Exemption that the application by PSREC to amend its CPCN to alter and extend its service territory will have no significant environmental effect and that no mitigation measures or consideration of alternatives are required.