Welcome to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website for SCE's Downs Substation Expansion Project. This website provides information on the status of CPUC's environmental review, permitting, and construction monitoring of the project, as Lead Agency, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). An Application for this Project was submitted to the CPUC on December 29, 2010 (A.10-12-016). A Final Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was prepared by CPUC for the Project in accordance with CEQA. The CPUC voted on November 29, 2012, to approve the SCE Downs Substation Expansion Project and Final MND (Decision D.12-11-027).

This website provides access to public documents and information relevant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process.

PROJECT STATUS

Construction activities for the Downs Substation Expansion Project began in November 2014 and were completed in December 2015, at which time the expanded 115 kV substation area was energized. During that time, work outside of the substation including installation of 115 kV tubular steel poles and telecommunication facilities, and upgrades at the Searles, McGen, and Inyokern Substation also occurred March through September 2015. Following energization, demolition of old 33 kV structures, upgrades to remaining 33 kV structures, driveway paving, and final demobilization were completed by the end of April 2016.

Compliance monitoring was conducted by CPUC to chronicle and document SCE's compliance with project mitigation measures, compliance plans, and permit conditions. Compliance monitoring was implemented, in accordance with CEQA, to minimize or eliminate potential significant impacts and to protect environmental resources. A summary of the compliance monitoring program is provided below and a Final Report on the construction and monitoring of the Project is available here.

Construction & Mitigation Monitoring

Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Plan

Following CPUC approval, a Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Plan (MMCRP) was prepared to ensure compliance APMs and mitigation measures approved in the Final MND and is available here. The MMCRP provides guidelines and standardize procedures for environmental compliance during project implementation. The MMCRP procedures describe the reporting relationships, the roles and responsibilities of the project's environmental compliance team members, compliance reporting procedures, and the communication protocol.

Notices to Proceed with Construction

As defined by the MMCRP, CPUC must issue a Notice to Proceed (NTP) before construction can start. SCE was required to submit a formal request for an NTP. On projects where there may be multiple work packages or work sites, SCE may elect to request separate NTPs. For the Downs Substation Project, SCE submitted two NTP requests (see table below). CPUC reviewed each NTP request and the applicable pre-construction requirements to ensure that all of the information required to process and approve the NTP was included. NTPs issued by CPUC for the Downs Substation Expansion Project are provided in the table below.

Construction began in November 2014. The linear portion of the project was completed on September 29, 2015. The expanded Downs Substation became operational December 3, 2015. Additional retrofit and demolition work is scheduled for completion April 2016. Weekly reports documenting construction and compliance activities can be viewed here.

Minor Project Changes

As defined by the MMCRP, at various times throughout project construction, minor changes to the project, such as the need for additional or revised workspace, are anticipated and common practice for construction efforts of this scale and a Minor Project Change request would be required for such activities. The CPUC Project Manager, along with the CPUC Environmental Monitors, will implement the Minor Project Change procedures defined in the MMCRP to evaluate each proposed project change for its potential for creating significant environmental effects to determine whether supplemental CEQA review is required. NTPs issued by CPUC for the Downs Substation Expansion Project are provided in the table below.

BACKGROUND

Project Description

The proposed Downs Substation Expansion Project (Proposed Project) includes the following components:

• Upgrading and expanding the existing Downs 33/12 kV Substation to a 115/12 kV substation containing a 115 kV switchrack and approximately 1,000 feet of new access road (new driveway);
  
  
• Upgrading protection relays inside the Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Room (MEER) at Inyokern, McGen and Searles Substations;
  
  
• Routing an existing 115 kV subtransmission line into and out of the Downs Substation;
  
  
• Installing a fiber optic telecommunication system (including 58 miles of fiber optic telecommunication cable, generally located aboveground on existing 115 kV poles with a few short segments ranging from a few hundred feet to a few thousand feet placed underground to allow interconnection to the Ridgecrest Service Center and the Inyokern, McGen, and Searles Substations) to provide communication circuits for the protection, monitoring, and control of subtransmission and substation equipment; and
  
  
• As part of the fiber optic telecommunication system, replacement of six 115 kV subtransmission line poles along the Inyokern-McGen-Searles No. 1 115 kV subtransmission line near the community of Trona in San Bernardino County. No new access roads are planned for installation of the fiber optic telecommunications line.
  

Regionally, the proposed Downs Substation expansion site would be located approximately one mile west of State Route 178 and approximately 3.9 miles northeast of U.S. Route 395 in northeastern Kern County. More specifically, the proposed Downs Substation expansion and the routing of an existing 115 kV subtransmission line into and out of the proposed substation are located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Ridgecrest Boulevard and Downs Street in the city of Ridgecrest, Kern County, California. The substation site is bounded to the east by Downs Street, to the north by West Ridgecrest Boulevard, and the closest roadways to the south and west are West Church Avenue and South Mahan Street, respectively. The existing Downs Substation encompasses approximately one acre of land within the city of Ridgecrest; the proposed expansion of the Downs Substation would require an additional 2.5 acres of a 4.6-acre parcel of SCE-owned land adjacent to the existing Downs Substation.

The Proposed Project also includes the replacement of six 115 kV subtransmission line poles along the Inyokern-McGen-Searles No. 1 115 kV subtransmission line near the community of Trona in San Bernardino County. Additionally, the stringing of fiber optic telecommunication cable along both the Inyokern-McGen-Searles No. 1 and No. 2 115 kV subtransmission lines would be located in the city of Ridgecrest, the unincorporated communities of Inyokern, Argus, and Trona in the Counties of Kern and San Bernardino.

Environmental Review Process

SCE filed a Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA) with the Application on December 29, 2010. This document provided a starting point for the environmental review process conducted by the CPUC.
SCE's Application and PEA were deemed complete by the CPUC on May 2, 2011.

On January 23, 2012, the CPUC released a Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for the Downs Substation Expansion Project, showing that the Proposed Project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment.

The Draft MND underwent a public review period from January 23, 2012, through February 21, 2012.

On July 24, 2012, the CPUC released a Final MND for the Downs Substation Expansion Project, showing that the Proposed Project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment. The Final MND details the Proposed Project, evaluates and describes its potential environmental impacts, identifies those impacts that could be significant, and presents mitigation measures to avoid or minimize these impacts. The Final MND can be viewed here. An errata to the Final MND is provided here.

CPUC Approval

The CPUC voted on November 29, 2012, to approve the SCE Downs Substation Expansion Project and Final MND (Decision D.12-11-027) and a Notice of Determination was submitted to the State Clearinghouse (SCH #2012011044). The mitigation measures and applicant-proposed measures (APMs) described in the Final MND were adopted by the CPUC as conditions of project approvals.

For Additional Information

To request additional information, please contact the CPUC, as follows: