Section 1721 - Purpose of Notice and Notice of Intention Proceeding(a) The purpose of a notice, and such supporting documentation as may be filed concurrently with the notice, is to provide the commission, interested agencies, and interested members of the public with an informative document which does all of the following: (1) Accurately describes the nature, size, and location of the sites and related facilities proposed by the applicant;(2) Fairly identifies and explains the principal environmental, economic, and technological advantages and disadvantages of each siting proposal in the notice;(3) Identifies measures which the applicant is considering to mitigate the principal disadvantages of each siting proposal in the notice;(4) Explains the need for the proposed facilities;(5) Describes the commercial availability of the generation technologies proposed in the notice (if not already determined to be commercially available by the commission); discusses the economic comparability of the proposals based upon comparative generation costs available to the applicant; and explains the impact of the proposed facilities on the overall reliability of the service area system;(6) Specifies the measures proposed or being considered by the applicant to ensure public health, safety, and reliability during construction and operation of the proposed facilities at each site; and(7) Indicates the degree to which the proposed facilities can be constructed and operated at each site in conformity with applicable federal, state, and local standards, laws, ordinances, and regulations, including any long-range land use plans or guidelines adopted by any federal, state, regional, or local planning agency.(b) The purpose of notice of intention proceedings shall be to engage the applicant, the commission, interested agencies and members of the public in an open planning process designed to identify sufficient acceptable sites and related facilities. To this end, each notice of intention proceeding shall be conducted in order to determine the technical, environmental, public health and safety, economic, and social and land use acceptability of alternative sites and related facilities, by accomplishing each of the following: (1) To provide information on the nature of the siting proposals to interested agencies and members of the public, and to actively solicit their assessments, comments, and recommendations on any aspect of the sites and related facilities proposed in the notice, including recommendations for modification in the location, design, construction or operation of the proposed facilities, or alternatives to the proposal;(2) To determine whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the facilities will comply with applicable federal, state, regional and local standards, laws, ordinances, regulations, and plans;(3) To attempt to resolve critical issues affecting the ability to employ the proposed technology at each of the sites and to determine the feasibility of any conditions or modifications necessary to make any site and related facilities proposed acceptable;(4) To determine whether the proposed facilities can be designed, constructed, and operated in a manner which ensures public health, safety, and reliability, by evaluating the adequacy of the measures proposed by the applicant, assessing their conformity with applicable standards, and where appropriate, determining the necessity, feasibility, and relative costs and benefits of additional measures;(5) To identify the most serious environmental impacts and assess the feasibility of mitigating such impacts;(6) To consider alternatives to the proposal, including feasible alternative sites, facilities, or sites and related facilities which may substantially lessen any significant adverse effects which the applicant's proposals may have on the environment or which may better carry out the policies and objectives of the Act;(7) To consider the economic, financial, rate, system reliability, and service implications of the proposed facilities, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission (for facilities requiring a certificate of public convenience and necessity) or with the board of directors or other appropriate body of a municipal utility (for all other facilities); and(8) To prevent any needless commitment of financial resources and regulatory effort prior to a determination of the basic acceptability of, and need for, the proposed facilities, and the suitability of proposed sites to accommodate the facilities; and to eliminate from further consideration and commitment of resources any site and related facility found to be unsuitable, unneeded, or otherwise unacceptable.(c) In assessing the proposed sites and related facilities, the commission shall defer until the formal application stage (1) a detailed scrutiny of engineering and design aspects, (2) a detailed identification and analysis of significant adverse environmental impacts, or (3) a precise analysis of need for new generating facilities; provided, however, that issues relating to such matters may be considered where resolution of such issues will not unduly hinder or burden the parties and the proceeding and evidence for the resolution of such issues is readily available, or where resolution of such issues is necessary to determine the acceptability of one or more of the sites and related facilities proposed.(d) It shall be the responsibility of the presiding member to ensure that the notice proceeding is conducted in a manner consistent with the purposes of this article and to ensure that the needless expenditure of time, effort, and financial resources in considering matters more appropriate for the formal certification stage is avoided.Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 20, § 1721
1. New Article 2 (Sections 1721-1731, not consecutive) filed 9-17-79; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 79, No. 38).
2. Amendment of NOTE filed 1-11-83; designated effective 2-1-83 pursuant to Government Code Section 11346.2(d) (Register 83, No. 3).
3. Amendment of subsection (b), repealer of subsection (b)(1) and subsection renumbering filed 3-28-2007; operative 3-28-2007 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2007, No. 13). Note: Authority cited: Sections 25218(e) and 25541.5, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 25502- 25516.6, Public Resources Code.
1. New Article 2 (Sections 1721-1731, not consecutive) filed 9-17-79; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 79, No. 38).
2. Amendment of NOTE filed 1-11-83; designated effective 2-1-83 pursuant to Government Code Section 11346.2(d) (Register 83, No. 3).
3. Amendment of subsection (b), repealer of subsection (b)(1) and subsection renumbering filed 3-28-2007; operative 3-28-2007 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2007, No. 13).