Senator Richard Alarcon held a select committee hearing today on
implementation of SB 115 (Solis) related to an environmental justice policy
for the state.  Most of the hearing was devoted to testimony from the Office
of Planning and Research, CalEPA, the Air Resources Board, and others.
There was, however, a very interesting exchange between Senator Alarcon and
CEC Commissioner Bob Laurie.

AB 970 includes a provision indicating that projects subject to the six
month siting process must comply with "all regulations adopted by the
commission that ensure that an application addressees disproportionate
impacts in a manner consistent" with environmental justice direction to the
Governor's Office of Planning and Research contained in Government Code
Section 65040.12.

During today's hearing, Senator Alarcon indicated that he believes that AB
970 requires compliance with federal environmental justice guidelines before
a power plant can be sited.  Senator Alarcon argues further that the CEC
must adopt regulations to implement the federal environmental justice
guidelines in order to implement the expedited power plant siting process.
He also indicated today in his hearing that AB 970 goes far beyond SB 1622,
which would have required the CEC to adopt environmental justice
regulations, and was defeated earlier this year.

The CEC (Commissioner Bob Laurie) responded that AB 970 provides for a
six-month process for a negative declaration of environmental impacts,
including environmental justice matters.  According to the CEC, the
environmental justice issue must be addressed in regulations implementing
the 6-month process but that the CEC is cautious about moving ahead of the
OPR process.  That's because the OPR process will apply to all agencies,
including the CEC.  As a result, the CEC must implement environmental
justice policies in a conservative fashion.

In an exchange with Commissioner Laurie, Senator Alarcon conceded that the
CEC could not move too far ahead of everyone else.  At the same time, he
indicated that he believes that the CEC's work will become a model for other
agency action.


Karen Edson
kedson@ns.net
916/552-7070