Energy: regional mitigation.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. Except as provided, CEQA requires the lead agency to mitigate or avoid the significant effects on the environment of a project it carries out or approves whenever feasible to do so. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, to purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year. This bill would authorize the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to communicate, coordinate, and work with specified entities to consider and implement mitigation requirements on a regional basis for projects proposing to develop eligible renewable energy resources for the purposes of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The bill would authorize the commission to execute an agreement, memorandum of its understanding, or other similar instrument memorializing it understanding of any communication, coordination, or implementation activities with other state agencies for the purposes of meeting mitigation requirements on a regional basis.