4. Procedural Background

PG&E filed this application on March 10, 2010. On March 23, 2010, PG&E filed a declaration of advertising, posting, and mailing to affected governmental bodies and property owners notice of the application, as required by General Order 131-D, Section XI.A. No protests were filed.

On October 18, 2010, the Energy Division circulated a draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for the project to all property owners within 300 feet of the project, and published newspaper notices of the issuance of the draft MND in the San Luis Obispo Tribune on October 25, 2010, and in the Atascadero News on October 27, 2010. The draft IS/MND and the newspaper notices gave notice that the document would undergo a public review and comment period from October 25, 2010, through November 24, 2010.

Six comment letters were received during the public review period. The final IS/MND, which Energy Division issued on February 10, 2011 and which is hereby marked as Exhibit 1 and admitted into the evidentiary record, makes appropriate revisions in response to the comments but does not identify any new significant environmental impacts, and does not omit any existing mitigation measures, from those identified in the draft IS/MND.