Approval of a Resolution No. 2022-08 authorizing (1) the Agency's General Manager to execute a letter and (2) commitment to funding

2022040292

San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency

NOE - Notice of Exemption

4/14/2022

4/14/2022

Lance Eckhart

San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency

General Manager

Lead/Public Agency

1210 Beaumont Avenue
Beaumont, CA 92223

(951) 845-2577

leckhart@sgpwa.com

The Resolution and the activity it approved has no specific location as it does not entail construction, development, or any other activity that could potentially result in a significant environmental impact. The Resolution does not in any way approve or commit the Agency to a Delta Conveyance Project, which the Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) is still analyzing and considering. DWR anticipates that, if approved, a future Delta Conveyance facility might span portions of Sacramento, Yolo, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, and/or Solano counties.

Statutory Exemption

State CEQA Guidelines sections 15060(c)(3), 15378(a), (b)(2)(4)-(5), 15061(b)(3), 15262

The Agency’s approval of the Resolution does not qualify as a “project” subject to CEQA because it constitutes (1) continuing administrative or maintenance activities, such as general policy and procedure making; (2) government fiscal activities that do not involve any commitment to any specific project that may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment; and (3) organizational or administrative activities of a public agency that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15060(c)(3).) Moreover, the approval of the Resolution does not qualify as a “project” because it does not constitute an approval by the Agency of the Delta Conveyance Project nor do the actions authorize or approve construction of the Delta Conveyance Project. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15378(b)(5).) The action does not authorize or commit the Agency or DWR to the expenditure of the funding on any site-specific project. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15378(b)(4).) In addition, the action does not authorize or approve any actions by the Agency or DWR that may have a potential to result in either a direct, or reasonably foreseeable indirect, physical change in the environment. (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15378(a).) Alternatively, the Agency’s approval of the Resolution is statutorily exempt from CEQA under State CEQA Guidelines section 15262, as the Resolution concerned “feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions [that] the agency … has not approved, adopted, or funded.” (State CEQA Guidelines, § 15262.) Notably, although the Resolution provides for some funding for the environmental planning costs associated with the Delta Conveyance Project, it provides for no funding for the construction of the Delta Conveyance Project, nor does it otherwise commit the Agency to the Delta Conveyance Project. Furthermore, the Agency’s approval of the Resolution is exempt from CEQA under the common sense exemption set forth in State CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3), as it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment. None of the exceptions to this exemption identified in CEQA Guidelines § 15300.2 exist here.