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Upcoming Public Meetings

Public Meeting

None scheduled at this time.

Administrative Law Judge's Prehearing Conference

The Administrative Law Judge held a prehearing conference for the Santa Cruz 115-kV Reinforcement Project on June 11, 2013 at the Commission
Courtroom, State Building, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California.

Prehearing conference notice

To find out how you can participate in the Permit to Construct Proceeding for the Santa Cruz 115-kV Reinforcement Project, please register your interest by contacting the public advisor office:

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/aboutus/Divisions/CSID/Public+Advisor/

Background

The proposed Project would increase transmission system reliability in the Santa Cruz area during outages. The project will add a second 115 kV circuit between Green Valley Substation and Rob Roy Substation to prevent potential large-scale service interruptions if there are overlapping outages in the existing local electricity supply system. The proposed project includes converting the existing 7.1 miles of single-circuit 115 kV power line to a double-circuit 115 kV power line by replacing existing wood poles with tubular steel poles (TSPs); constructing a new, approximately 1.7-mile-long single-circuit 115 kV power line connecting the Green Valley-Camp Evers 115 kV Power Line to Rob Roy Substation; and modifying the existing Rob Roy Substation and existing power lines to accommodate the new circuit.

The new circuit will provide two sources of power in the event of an outage on either the southern line between Green Valley Substation and Rob Roy Substation or on the existing northern line between Green Valley Substation and Camp Evers Substation. 

Project Description

The project is located in southern Santa Cruz County, California near the cities of Watsonville and Aptos. The project traverses an area of rolling terrain, including agricultural valleys and grassland, as well as low ridgelines forested with mature trees. The predominant development pattern throughout the project area is a mix of low-density residential, open space, and agricultural land uses. The agricultural areas are predominantly apple orchards, berry orchards, livestock pastures, and row crops.
The primary project components are summarized below:

1. Northern Alignment – approximately 7.1 miles of an existing single-circuit 115 kV power line will be converted to a double-circuit 115 kV power line by replacing existing wood poles with TSPs.
   
   
2. Cox-Freedom Segment - a new, approximately 1.7-mile-long single-circuit 115 kV power line connecting the Green Valley-Camp Evers 115 kV Power Line to Rob Roy Substation will be constructed in an existing distribution line alignment by installing new poles and collocating some existing distribution facilities.
   
   
3. Rob Roy Substation Modifications - the existing substation will be modified to accommodate the new circuit.
   
   
4. Rob Roy Substation Connections – one new TSP will be installed and two existing power poles will be replaced with TSPs to accommodate the interconnection of existing power lines following modification of Rob Roy Substation.

Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA)

PG&E filed an application (A. 12-01-012) for a Permit to Construct and the Proponent's Environmental Assessment on January 25, 2012. The PEA is a starting point for the independent environmental review process conducted by the CPUC.

The application and PEA can be viewed here:  Application (6.6 MB)   PEA (25.7 MB)  

The Declarations of Mailing and Posting of Supplemental Notice of an Application for a Permit to Construct can be viewed here (9 MB).

Additional Data Requests

The CPUC submitted additional data requests regarding PG&E's application. The data requests and PG&E's responses can be viewed below. 

Data Request #1 and Response

Data Request #2 and Response

Data Request #3 and Response

Data Request #4 and Response

Data Request #5 and Response

Data Request #6 and Response

Data Request #7 and Response

Data Request #8 and Response, Supplemental Reponse, and Additional Response

Data Request #9, Response, and Supplemental Response

Data Request #10 and Response and Supplemental Response

Environmental Review

PG&E’s Application and PEA were deemed complete by the CPUC on April 24, 2012. 

Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration

On October 18, 2013 the CPUC released a Notice of Intent to Adopt a MND/Notice of Availability (NOI/NOA) for the Santa Cruz 115kV Reinforcement Project, showing that the proposed project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment.

The Draft IS/MND was available for a 45-day public review period. The Draft was released on October 18, 2013. The comment period was extended by an additional 4 days and comments were accepted through 5:00 p.m. on December 6, 2013. The Draft IS/MND can be viewed here.

Public Meeting

A public information meeting to accept comments on the Draft IS/MND was held on November 6, 2013. Documents that were presented at the meeting are available below.

Public Meeting Presentation (44 MB)
Project Map Book (58 MB)
Project Visual Simulations Book (176 MB)
Sign-in Sheet (0.5 MB)

Environmental Impact Report

After review of comments received on the Draft IS/MND, the CPUC determined that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) should be prepared in accordance with CEQA.

Notice of Preparation and Scoping Period

The CPUC published a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed project on January 17, 2014. Click here to review the NOP.

The CPUC accepted comments on the scope of the Draft EIR during the 30-day scoping period that ended on February 18, 2014. The comments received during the Draft IS/MND comment period are also being considered during the preparation of the EIR. Comments on the Draft IS/MND and EIR scoping comments are available below.

Comments on the Draft IS/MND (24 MB)
Comments on the Scope of the EIR (21 MB)

Public Scoping Meeting

The CPUC held a public meeting on January 29, 2014, in order for the public and regulatory agencies to become informed about and submit comments on the scope of the EIR. 

Click the following links to view the public meeting presentation and meeting transcript. 

Scoping Meeting Presentation (2 MB)
Scoping Meeting Transcript (0.5 MB)

Scoping Report

A Scoping Report has been prepared to describe the CEQA scoping process and to document all comments received on the Santa Cruz 115-kV Reinforcement Project. Click the link below to access the Scoping Report.

Scoping Report

For Additional Information

Additional information will be posted at this site as it becomes publically 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	Lisa Orsaba California Public Utilities Commission 505 Van Ness Ave, 4th Floor San Francisco CA , 94102 c/o Panorama 1 Embarcadero Center, Suite 740 San Francisco, CA, 94111
Email	santacruz115kvproject@panoramaenv.com