AB 3076: Public utilities: County of Riverside: Riverside Transmission Reliability Project.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or any extension of a line, plant, or system, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require its construction. Southern California Edison Company has submitted an application to the commission for that certificate for the proposed Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP) in the County of Riverside.

This bill would require the commission, as part of the proceeding on that application, to suspend the implementation of a commission decision regarding the project, as described, until a supplemental environmental impact report has been prepared and submitted for the commissions consideration to address updated information on the wildfire risk associated with the construction and operation of the RTRP, as specified. The bill would require the supplemental environmental impact report to reconsider the feasibility and environmental impacts of alternatives to the adopted RTRP route and to consider the social and economic impact on the communities adjacent to the RTRP route. The bill would require the commission to consider the environmental impacts of the RTRP in determining whether to certify the new supplemental environmental impact report, and to accept testimony from affected communities and stakeholders on the feasibility and cost of the RTRP and any other feasible alternatives as part of its determination of whether the project is in the public interest.