Summary

This ruling sets forth a proposal for an improved application of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to Commission proceedings relating to telecommunications. Specific and detailed comments are requested to allow us to refine this proposal.

The process described in this ruling has two fundamental goals. The first is to further improve the Commission's compliance with CEQA in the area of telecommunications. The second is to eliminate the unfair disparities among telecommunications providers created by the Commission's present CEQA processes. The process set forth below meets both of these goals. It does so by basing the environmental review for a project on the specific construction that is proposed, subsequent to issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN)¹⁶.

¹⁶ The proposed process would not alter the process for obtaining a CPCN, including any environmental review necessary for obtaining a CPCN. The process proposed here would apply to all construction activity that occurs after the issuance of a CPCN, and that did not receive CEQA review in the CPCN application process.