4. Environmental Review

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, hereinafter CEQA Guidelines, Section 15002.)

Under Public Resources Code Section 21080, a project is defined as, "an activity which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment." In this case, the proposed action is merely to replace an existing dedicated easement with a new, comparable easement. The purpose of this easement is to accommodate future transmission capacity expansion, if required, and as such does not rise to the level of a "project" under Public Resources Code Section 21080. No CEQA review is required for this transaction. Any proposed future expansion of transmission facilities in the new easement area should be reviewed by the Commission pursuant to a separate application consistent with the requirements of General Order (GO) 131-D.

While we believe this transaction does not rise to the level of a project at this time, we are concerned with two aspects of this application. First, the application suggests that there may be proposed development on on property adjacent to the location of SCE's original easement. Any lease or conveyance by SoCalGas of its property for potential development or encroachment would require a Section 851 application for approval and would trigger a CEQA analysis by the Commission in either a Lead or Responsible Agency capacity. Second, SCE has demonstrated in previous applications before the Commission a commitment to develop portions of the land under its transmission lines. Since this new easement is dedicated for future transmission additions and it is impossible at this time to assess whether any non-tariffed development will interfere with future transmission additions, we will prohibit any development along this easement until the transmission line has been designed and built, unless SCE obtains our prior approval of such development.