DOT - DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION
With regard to the commentor's concern about environmental review of future projects resulting from the sale of Edison power plants, the Initial Study assessed only the impacts of the proposed divestiture. As noted on page 3.2 of the Initial Study, if an Edison power plant is purchased, the new owner may determine that modifications to the plant are needed. However, the same would be true of Edison if it were to continue ownership of the facility, as discussed thoroughly in section 3.2 of Attachment C to the Initial Study. If either a new owner or Edison decided to modify the plant, it would have to comply with applicable regulations, including environmental review. Based upon the type of modifications requested, either a local agency or the California Energy Commission (CEC) would be the CEQA Lead Agency. In any event, any changes proposed in operations, retrofitting, etc. would be evaluated at the time an application for such changes were presented for consideration by the owner of the plant. Therefore, the Department of Transportation and other interested parties would have the opportunity to evaluate impacts to land use and other environmental effects at that time.