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Welcome to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website
for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of Pacific
Gas and Electric's (PG&E) Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kilovolt (kV)
Transmission Project. An application for this project was submitted
to the CPUC on December 11, 2012 (A.12-12-004),
which started the CPUC proceeding to decide whether a Certification
of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) should be issued. The
CPUC reviewed the application and in a decision on January 16,
2014 (D.14-01-07)
approved the project and issued a CPCN. This website provides access
to public documents and information relevant to the CEQA review
process.
Background
The Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project includes construction,
operation, and maintenance of a 230 kV transmission line entirely
within the City and County of San Francisco from Embarcadero Substation
near the corner of Fremont and Folsom Streets to Potrero Switchyard
on Illinois Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets.
The new 230 kV transmission line will be approximately 3.5 miles
in length, including approximately 2.5 miles installed offshore
in the seafloor of San Francisco Bay, 0.4 mile installed in horizontal
directional drills (HDD) from two onshore transition points to the
Bay, and approximately 0.6 miles underground in conventional trenching.
The new transmission line will be placed in City streets, including
Spear Street and Folsom Street in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood
and 23rd Street east of Illinois Street. Construction of a new 230
kV switchyard will occur near the existing Potrero Switchyard, but
no new substation work will occur at the existing Embarcadero Substation
beyond the proposed termination of the new cable into the 230 kV
bus.
PG&E's project objectives include improving the reliability
of the existing transmission system in San Francisco to provide
a high likelihood of continued electric service to downtown San
Francisco in the event of overlapping outages on both of two existing
230 kV transmission lines that presently feed Embarcadero Substation.
CPUC Application Review
and Approval
The PG&E Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project was
evaluated in accordance with the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA). A Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was prepared
to inform the CPUC and public of the potential project impacts and
available mitigation (information on the MND preparation is provided
below). The CPUC voted on January 16, 2014 to approve the PG&E
Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission Project and Final MND (Decision
D.14-01-007) and a Notice of Determination was submitted to the
State Clearinghouse (SCH#2013082047). The mitigation measures and
applicant-proposed measures (APMs) described in the Final MND were
adopted by the CPUC as conditions of project approvals.
Construction and Mitigation Monitoring
Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting Plan. Following
CPUC approval, a Mitigation Monitoring, Compliance, and Reporting
Plan (MMCRP) was prepared to ensure compliance with applicant proposed
measures (APMs) and mitigation measures approved in the Final IS/MND.
The MMCRP provides guidelines and standardize procedures for environmental
compliance during project implementation. The procedures were developed
in coordination with PG&E and CPUC and describe the reporting
relationships, the roles and responsibilities of the project's environmental
compliance team members, compliance reporting procedures, and the
communication protocol.
The MMCRP can be viewed here.
Notices to Proceed with
Construction
As defined by the MMCRP, CPUC must issue a Notice to Proceed (NTP)
before construction can start. On projects where there may be multiple
work packages or work sites, PG&E may elect to request separate
NTPs. Each separate NTP request will be applicable to a defined
segment or aspect of the Project. CPUC will review the NTP request
and the applicable pre-construction requirements to ensure that
all of the information required to process and approve the NTP is
included. CPUC may request additional information or clarification
as needed. Based on information provided in the request for an NTP
and its review, CPUC will issue the NTP.
PG&E submitted several requests for NTPs. NTPs issued by CPUC
to date for the PG&E Embarcadero-Potrero Project are provided
below.
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Notices to Proceed
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Date Requested
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Date Issued
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Description
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#1
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06/23/14
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Site preparation and excavation of the proposed
230 kV Potrero Switchyard site. |
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#2
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07/31/14
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Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) component
of the Project on Spear St. and 23rd St. |
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#3
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09/18/14
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Underground duct bank and vault installation component
of the Project between HDD transition on Spear St. to the Embarcadero
Substation on Folsom St. in the northern section, and between
the HDD transition on 23rd Street to the Potrero Switchyard
in the southern section. |
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Mod to #3
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11/13/14
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Trenching from the new Potrero Switchyard to the
existing switchyard for the 230 kV/115 kV connections
across the Trans Bay Cable (TBC). |
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#4
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11/19/14
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Rock removal obstructing the path of the submarine
cable component of the Project along the submarine cable line
and off shore of Pier 50 in the San Francisco Bay. |
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#5
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02/19/15
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Construction of 230 kV Potrero gas-insulated switchgear
(GIS) building and cable tie-in component at Potrero Switchyard. |
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#6
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02/19/15
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Site preparation for submarine cable installation,
laying the cable, and pulling the cable to land at either end. |
Construction began in September 2014 and continued through December
2016, with minor completion tasks being conducted in Q1 2017. Weekly
reports documenting construction and compliance activities can be
viewed here. A Final Report documenting
Project construction and compliance activities is available here.
Compliance plans were developed as required by the mitigation measures
and submitted to the CPUC for review and approval prior to construction.
A listing of major compliance plans requiring CPUC and/or permit
agency review and approval is provided below.
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 EMs, 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. Minor Project
Changes processed to date are provided in the table below.
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Minor Project Changes
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Date Requested
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Date Issued
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Description
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#1
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07/16/14
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Use of an existing staging and laydown yard adjacent
to Alternate Staging Area #3 on Amador St. identified in MND. |
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#3
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12/31/14
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Use of an existing staging and laydown yard two
blocks from the Potrero Switchyard at 1215 Michigan Street |
Environmental Review Process
PG&E filed a PEA with the Application on December 11, 2012.
This document provided a starting point for the environmental review
process conducted by the CPUC. PG&E's Application and PEA
were deemed complete for review by the CPUC on January 10, 2013.
The CPUC Energy Division reviewed PG&E's Application and PEA
and prepared an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND)
as the appropriate CEQA document for this project.
Mitigated Negative Declaration
Preparation
The CPUC released a Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative
Declaration for the proposed Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV Transmission
Project showing that the Proposed Project, as mitigated, would not
have any significant effects on the environment. The Draft Mitigated
Negative Declaration and Supporting Initial Study (IS/MND) was made
available for public review and comment from August 13, 2013 to
September 16, 2013.
The Draft IS/MND can be viewed here.
On October 29, 2013, the CPUC released a Final Mitigated Negative
Declaration showing that the proposed Embarcadero-Potrero 230 kV
Transmission Project, as mitigated, would not have any significant
effects on the environment. The Final IS/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 IS/MND can be viewed here.
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