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PUC > Energy > California Environmental Quality Act > Current Projects

Southern California Edison's

Riverside Transmission Reliability Project

(Application No. A.15-04-013)
Last updated: March 30, 2020

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 The CPUC Issues Project Decision

Presiona aquí para ver información en español.
 

Welcome to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website for the environmental review of Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) proposed Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP or project) in Riverside County, California. SCE submitted an application to the CPUC for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for this project on April 15, 2015, and an amended application on April 30, 2015. In August 2016, SCE submitted project revisions that included constructing a portion of the transmission line underground (See Background and Project Description below). This site provides access to public documents and information relevant to the CPUC’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.

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application NOP EnvReview EnvReview

QUICK LINKS

Commission Decision (Updated March 30, 2020)

Background and Project Description

CPCN Application

Deficiencies, Data Requests, and Responses

Environmental Review

    Final Subsequent EIR

    Draft Subsequent EIR 

    Comments

For Additional Information

Project Schedule

Project Milestones 
Milestones
Date
Application deemed complete by CPUC January 5, 2017
Publication of Notice of Preparation January 25, 2017
Publication of Draft Subsequent EIR April 2, 2018
Public Comment Period on Draft Subsequent EIR (45 Days) April 2 through May 17, 2018
Publication of Final Subsequent EIR October 2, 2018
CPUC Decision March 12, 2020
Start of Construction TBD
Estimated End of Construction TBD

*Note: All anticipated dates are approximate and subject to change.
The Draft Subsequent EIR and comments are provided below.

Background and Project Description

SCE and the City of Riverside's Municipal Utility Department (known as Riverside Public Utilities [RPU]) jointly planned the RTRP. RPU is a consumer-owned water and electric utility that has been providing services throughout the City of Riverside since 1895. The project would be owned and operated by both RPU and SCE. The RPU would own and operate certain elements of the RTRP including the new 69-kV Wilderness Substation, 69-kV subtransmission lines, and interconnection and telecommunication facilities. The SCE CPCN application covers the construction of RTRP elements that would be owned and operated by SCE, which would include:

    Approximately 8 miles of new overhead 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line;

    Approximately 2 miles of new underground 230-kV transmission line;

    New 230-kV Wildlife Substation;

     Modifications of existing overhead distribution lines;

     Modifications at existing substations; and

     Telecommunication facilities between the existing Mira Loma and Vista Substations and the proposed Wildlife Substation.

The RTRP was first proposed by RPU. Acting as the CEQA Lead Agency, the City of Riverside prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to analyze the environmental impacts from construction, operation, and maintenance of the RTRP.  While there are separate permit requirements and authorizations required for RPU and SCE, the project EIR considered the “whole of the action” under CEQA (CEQA Guidelines §15378[a]) since neither the RPU elements nor the SCE elements could operate independent of one another. The City of Riverside certified the 2013 RTRP Final EIR and approved the project on February 5, 2013.

Following certification of the RTRP EIR, residential and commercial developments within SCE’s proposed transmission line route were approved by the City of Jurupa Valley. Construction of several of these developments has begun or been completed; therefore, construction of the original RTRP transmission line route would require SCE to claim eminent domain through recently entitled developments including the Lennar Homes’ Riverbend Community, the Vernola Marketplace Apartment Community, and the Stratham Homes Harmony Trails Subdivision. In September 2016, SCE revised the proposed transmission line route to avoid these three development projects. The September 2016 transmission route revisions were not included in the 2013 RTRP EIR and have not yet undergone environmental review.

CPUC is the next-in-line public agency with discretionary approval of the CPCN. The CPUC has determined that changes in the baseline physical condition (development within the proposed transmission alignment) and changes in the project description (SCE modifications to avoid the new development) require additional analysis under CEQA. 

Detailed maps of the proposed route and project components can be viewed here.

CPCN Application

SCE filed an Application for a CPCN (A.15-04-013) on April 15, 2015, which included the certified 2013 RTRP Final EIR prepared by the City of Riverside and associated administrative record. The RTRP Final EIR was filed by SCE as equivalent information to a Proponent’s Environmental Assessment. SCE filed an Amended Application on April 30, 2015.

The Application and Amended Application can be viewed here:

Application (3.4 MB)

Amended Application (2.5 MB)

The 2013 RTRP Final EIR can be viewed here.

The CPUC deemed the application complete on January 5, 2017. The letter of completeness can be viewed here.

Deficiencies, Data Requests, and Responses

The CPUC Environmental Review Team submitted data requests to the applicant for specific information to support the environmental review process. Those requests and the applicant's responses are published below.

CPUC Report/Request
SCE Response
SCE Response Attachments
Deficiency Report 1
(Submitted May 22, 2015)
Response 1a, Response 1b
(July 24, 2015)
Supplemental Response
(September 18, 2015)
Deficiency Report 2
(Submitted October 8, 2015)
Response 2a (December 2, 2015)
Response 2b (February 8, 2016)
Response 2c (March 24, 2016)
Response 2d (December 7, 2016)
Deficiency Report 3
(Submitted October 22, 2015)
Response 3 (December 18, 2015)
Deficiency Report 4
(Submitted March 18, 2016)
Revised Deficiency Report 4
(Submitted September 22, 2016)
Response 4a (October 10, 2016)
Response 4b (October 24, 2016)
Response 4c (November 9, 2016)
Response 4d (November 10, 2016)
Response 4e (November 18, 2016)
Response 4f (November 22, 2016)
Response 4g (November 30, 2016)
Response 4h (December 2, 2016)
Response 4i (December 7, 2016)
Response 4j (December 19, 2016)
Response 4k (December 22, 2016)
Response 4l (August 16, 2017)
Data Request 1
(Submitted March 9, 2016)
Response 1a (April 11, 2016)
Response 1b (April 21, 2016)
Response 1c (May 9, 2016)
Response 1d- Confidential
(May 23, 2016)
Response 1f- Confidential
(August 23, 2016) 
Response 1f (September 1, 2016)
Response 1g (October 5, 2016)
Response 1h (November 22, 2016)
Data Request 2
(Submitted February 27, 2017)
Response 2a (March 28, 2017)
Response 2b (March 30, 2017)
Response 2c (April 4, 2017)
Response 2d (April 4, 2017)
Response 2e (April 10, 2017)
Response 2f (April 27, 2017)
Response 2g (June 7, 2017)
Data Request 3
(Submitted March 15, 2017)
Response 3a (May 8, 2017)
Response 3b (May 26, 2017)
Data Request 4
(Submitted March 17, 2017)
Response 4a (June 8, 2017)
Data Request 5
(Submitted May 23, 2017)
Response 5a (June 22, 2017)
Response 5b (June 28, 2017)
Data Request 6
(Submitted June 16, 2017)
Response 6a (July 3, 2017)
Response 6b (July 16, 2017)
Data Request 7
(Submitted July 9, 2017)
Response 7a (July 27, 2017)
Response 7b (July 28, 2017)
Response 7c (August 7, 2017)
Data Request 8
(Submitted August 4, 2017)
Response 8a (August 16, 2017)
Response 8b (August 25, 2017)
No Attachments Received
Data Request 9
(Submitted September 29, 2017)
Response 9a (November 30, 2017)
Response 9b (December 1, 2017)
Data Request 10
(Submitted November 20, 2017)
Response 10a (January 26, 2018)
       Data Request 11
       (Verbal request for Delhi Sands
       Flower Loving Fly Survey Report)
       Response 11a (January 16, 2018)
       Data Request 12
       (Submitted June 20, 2018)
       Response 12a (August 10, 2018)
       Data Request 13
       (Informal email request for Hidden
       Valley Wildlife Preserve land
       conversion information)
       Response 13a (August 20, 2018)          No Attachments Received

Additional Information Requests

The CPUC Environmental Review Team submitted data requests to other entities for specific information to support the environmental review process. Those request and the responses are provided below.

CPUC Report/Request
Response
Attachments
City of Jurupa Valley Data Request 1
(Submitted July 23, 2015)
Response 1 (August 20, 2015)
No Attachments
IDI Gazeley Data Request 1
(Submitted October 14, 2015)
Response not yet received
Response not yet received
Lennar Homes Data Request 1
(Submitted September 23, 2015)
Response 1 (November 24, 2015)
Snell & Wilmer Data Request 1
(Submitted October 14, 2015)
Response not yet received
Response not yet received
Stratham Company Data Request 1
(Submitted October 5, 2015)
Response not yet received
Response not yet received
Rutan & Tucker LLP Data Request 1
(Submitted September 23, 2015)
Response 1a (November 30, 2015)
Response 1b (December 15, 2015)
Response 1c (February 9, 2016)
Response 1d (March 4, 2016)

Environmental Review

Final Subsequent Environmental Impact Report

The CPUC has prepared a Subsequent EIR to address potential impacts resulting from project revisions and changes in baseline conditions following the certification of the 2013 RTRP Final EIR. The Final Subsequent EIR was released for public review on October 2, 2018. Comments that were submitted on the Draft Subsequent EIR and responses to all comments are presented in Appendix M of Volume 2 of the Final Subsequent EIR. The CPUC is expected to make a decision on the project in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The Notice of Availability can be viewed here.

The Final Subsequent EIR can be viewed here.

Printed copies of the Final Subsequent EIR are available for review at the following locations:

Final Subsequent EIR Review Locations
Arlanza Public Library
Eastvale Public Library
Glen Avon Public Library
Louis Robidoux Public Library
Colony High Branch Library
Norco Public Library
City of Jurupa Valley City Hall
Riverside City Hall Planning Division

Draft Subsequent Environmental Impact Report

The Draft Subsequent EIR was released for public review on April 2, 2018.

The Notice of Availability can be viewed here.

The Draft Subsequent EIR can be viewed here.

The CPUC, as the CEQA lead agency, held public informational workshops on the 24th and 25th of April at Mira Loma Middle School in Jurupa Valley. The purpose of the workshops were to help affected communities understand the Revised Project, its alternatives, the Draft Subsequent EIR, and how to participate in the CPUC decision-making process. Public informational workshop materials can be found below.

Informational workshop materials:
FAQ English  |  Spanish
Factsheet   English  |  Spanish
Presentation English  |  Spanish
 

Written Comments

After publication of the Draft Subsequent EIR, a comment period was held from April 2 through May 17, 2018. Comments were recieved from agencies, non-governmental organizations and businesses, and public individuals. Responses to comments willl be presented in the Final Subsequent EIR.
The submitted comments can be viewed by following the links below. 


Comments:      Agencies  |  Organizations  |  Public |  Applicant 

CEQA Initial Study Checklist

The CPUC prepared an Initial Study Checklist for the RTRP project revisions. The Initial Study Checklist was prepared in January 2017 and provided an initial screening of environmental impacts based on information available at the time. The Initial Study Checklist was released with the Notice of Preparation.

A copy of the IS Checklist is available here.

Several environmental topics that were screened out in the Initial Study Checklist were re-analyzed in the Draft Subsequent EIR based on additional project engineering refinements, further environmental review by the CPUC, and the consideration of scoping comments.

Notice of Preparation and Scoping

Issuance of a CEQA Notice of Preparation (NOP) is the first step in the EIR Process. The NOP provides a description of SCE's application and the revised project as well as a summary of environmental topics to be considered in the Subsequent EIR. The NOP was issued on January 25, 2017 and is available here

The scoping period began on January 25 and ended on February 24, 2017. In order for the public and regulatory agencies to have an opportunity to ask questions on the scope of the Subsequent EIR, the CPUC, as the CEQA lead agency, held a scoping meeting for the public on February 8, 2017 at Jurupa Valley High School. The CPUC described SCE's proposed project and the CPUC review process. Public comments on the scope and issues to be addressed in the Subsequent EIR were accepted during the meeting.

A copy of the presentation is available here: English | Spanish

The project fact sheet is available here: English | Spanish
* The listed fact sheets provide the corrected project website URL.

Scoping Report

The CPUC prepared a Scoping Report that documents the scoping activities and oral comments from the scoping meeting, as well as the written comments submitted in response to the NOP. This report serves as an information source to the CPUC in the determination of the range of issues and alternatives to be addressed in the Draft Subsequent EIR. Click below to view the Scoping Report and Appendices.

    Scoping Report (2.27 MB)

    Appendices (82.8 MB)

For Additional Information

Additional information will be posted at this site as it becomes publicly available.

The CPUC, through its Environmental Review Team, is conducting an environmental review of the project. To request additional information, ask a question, or be added to the project mailing list, please contact:

Voicemail or Fax

v: (650) 373 - 1200, f: (650) 373 - 1211

U.S. Mail or Courier

Andrew Barnsdale
California Public Utilities Commission
c/o Panorama Environmental, Inc.
717 Market St. Suite 650
San Francisco, CA 94103

Email

riversidetrp@panoramaenv.com


Related Links:
CPUC Proceeding
A.15-04-013 - Proceeding


For additional information on the proceeding, contact the Public Advisor's Office

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