Welcome to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of Pacific Gas and Electric's (PG&E) Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kilovolt (kV) Transmission Project. An application for this project was submitted to the CPUC on December 11, 2012 (A.12-12-004), which started the CPUC proceeding to decide whether a Certification of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) should be issued. The CPUC reviewed the application and in a decision on January 16, 2014 (D.14-01-07) approved the project and issued a CPCN. This website provides access to public documents and information relevant to the CEQA review process.

Quick links to project-related documents are provided here:

Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA)

Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (Draft IS/MND)

Final Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (Final IS/MND)

Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Program (MMCRP)

Notice to Proceed (NTP) #1

NTP #2

Minor Project Change #1

Background

The Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project includes construction, operation, and maintenance of a 230 kV transmission line entirely within the City and County of San Francisco from Embarcadero Substation near the corner of Fremont and Folsom Streets to Potrero Switchyard on Illinois Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets.

The new 230 kV transmission line will be approximately 3.5 miles in length, including approximately 2.5 miles installed offshore in the seafloor of San Francisco Bay, 0.4 mile installed in horizontal directional drills (HDD) from two onshore transition points to the Bay, and approximately 0.6 miles underground in conventional trenching. The new transmission line will be placed in City streets, including Spear Street and Folsom Street in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood and 23rd Street east of Illinois Street. Construction of a new 230 kV switchyard will occur near the existing Potrero Switchyard, but no new substation work will occur at the existing Embarcadero Substation beyond the proposed termination of the new cable into the 230 kV bus.

PG&E's project objectives include improving the reliability of the existing transmission system in San Francisco to provide a high likelihood of continued electric service to downtown San Francisco in the event of overlapping outages on both of two existing 230 kV transmission lines that presently feed Embarcadero Substation.

Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA)

PG&E filed a PEA with the Application on December 11, 2012. This document provided a starting point for the environmental review process conducted by the CPUC. PG&E's Application and PEA were deemed complete for review by the CPUC on January 10, 2013.

Environmental Review Process

The CPUC Energy Division reviewed PG&E's Application and PEA and prepared an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) as the appropriate CEQA document for this project.

Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration and Supporting Initial Study

The CPUC released a Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the proposed Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project showing that the Proposed Project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment. The Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration and Supporting Initial Study (IS/MND) was made available for public review and comment from August 13, 2013 to September 16, 2013.

The Draft IS/MND can be viewed here.

Final Mitigated Negative Declaration and Supporting Initial Study

On October 29, 2013, the CPUC released a Final Mitigated Negative Declaration showing that the proposed Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment. The Final IS/MND details the Proposed Project, evaluates and describes its potential environmental impacts, identifies those impacts that could be significant, and presents mitigation measures to avoid or minimize these impacts.

The Final IS/MND can be viewed here.

CPUC Actions After Final Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) Publication

The CPUC issued a Proposed Decision on the Application on December 2, 2013. The Commission made its decision on the Application on January 16, 2014, determining the adequacy of the Final IS/MND, adopting the document as being compliant with CEQA, and issuing a CPCN. A Notice of Determination was mailed to the State Clearinghouse.

Mitigation Monitoring

Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Plan. Following CPUC approval, a Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Plan (MMCRP) was prepared to ensure compliance with applicant proposed measures (APMs) and mitigation measures approved in the Final IS/MND. The MMCRP provides guidelines and standardize procedures for environmental compliance during project implementation. The procedures were developed in coordination with PG&E and CPUC and describe the reporting relationships, the roles and responsibilities of the project's environmental compliance team members, compliance reporting procedures, and the communication protocol.

The MMCRP can be viewed here.

For Additional Information

To request additional information, please contact the CPUC, as follows: