Coastal Water Project Scoping Report -
Prepared for the California Public Utilities Commission
December 22, 2006

Introduction

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has received an Application (A.04-09-019) from California
American Water Company (Cal-Am) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to build,
own, and operate the Coastal Water Project in Monterey County, California. The Coastal Water Project is a
proposed new seawater desalination plant, a conveyance system, and an aquifer storage and recovery system that would produce, store and deliver potable water to Cal-Am’s Monterey District customers.

The proposed desalination plant would be located near the Moss Landing Power Plant, with a conveyance
pipeline running south approximately 19 miles to the Monterey Peninsula service territory. The aquifer storage and recovery system would be located east of General Jim Moore Boulevard in and around the City of Seaside.

Notice of Preparation and Notice of Availability

The Notice of Preparation (NOP) was prepared by the CPUC pursuant to the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA), to notify interested parties that it will be preparing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to
evaluate potential environmental impacts of the Coastal Water Project.

The NOP contains a description of the Coastal Water Project, a discussion of possible alternative projects being considered, a map of the project location and the area, and a summary of the probable environmental effects of the project to be addressed in the EIR. The NOP provides the public and resource agencies with the opportunity to review the proposed project and to provide comments or concerns on the scope and content of the environmental review document, including the range of actions, the alternatives, the mitigation measures, and the significant effects to be analyzed in depth in the EIR.

On September 28, 2006, the NOP was mailed to approximately 230 interested parties, including local, state, and federal agencies; news publications; and other groups or individuals who had previously expressed interest in the project.

A Notice of Availability (NOA) was also prepared by the CPUC (in English, Spanish and Mandarin) in order to
notify potentially interested members of the public about the availability of the NOP and the scheduled public scoping meetings. On October 4, 2006, approximately 38,000 copies of the NOA were distributed by mail to all Cal-Am and Marina Coast Water District rate payers; the owners and occupants of properties adjacent to some of the proposed facilities; the CPUC’s service list for the proposed project; an expanded list of state and local agencies; individuals who had requested the information via the project Web site (www.cwp-eir.com); and all the addressees to whom the entire NOP had been mailed.

Copies of the NOP were made available for public review at 17 public libraries within Monterey County and at the County Clerk’s office, and both the entire NOP and the NOA were also available for downloading from the CPUC’s CWP Web site.

Scoping Period

The 30-day project scoping period, which began with the distribution of the NOP and NOA, remained open
through November 9, 2006. During the scoping period, the CPUC held a series of four scoping meetings in
Monterey County. The meetings were held as follows:

  • October 24, 2006, 7:00 P.M. at North Monterey County High School (13990 Castroville Boulevard, in
    Castroville)
  • October 25, 2006, 1:30 P.M. at Hyatt Monterey (1 Old Golf Course Road, in Monterey)
  • October 25, 2006, 7:00 P.M. at Hyatt Monterey (1 Old Golf Course Road, in Monterey)
  • October 26, 2006, 1:30 P.M. at Embassy Suites (1441 Canyon Del Rey Boulevard, in Seaside)

The CPUC placed display ads for the scoping meetings in four newspapers, in three languages, on several
different days, as follows:

  • The Carmel Pinecone, October 20, 2006
  • El Sol, October 17, 2006
  • El Sol, October 21, 2006
    El Sol, October 24, 2006
  • The Salinas Californian, October 19, 2006
  • The Salinas Californian, October 23, 2006
  • The Monterey Herald, October 19, 2006
  • The Monterey Herald, October 22, 2006

At each scoping meeting, CPUC staff and consultants gave presentations on Cal-Am’s application, the proposed action, and potential alternatives. Following these presentations, meeting participants were invited to visit one or more of five different stations around the room. Each station involved a different aspect of the project. Participant questions and comments were recorded on flip charts, and comment cards were also available for participants to fill out at the meeting or to send in at a later date.

Comments

During the scoping period, the CPUC received 42 unique letters, emails, and faxes commenting on the proposed project. The CPUC also received comments during the scoping meetings; numerous comments were recorded on flip-charts at each station, and six comment cards were collected from meeting participants. The next formal opportunity for public comments will be associated with the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report, expected to be available by public review by mid-2007.

Contents of this Report

This Scoping Report contains documents pertinent to the scoping process. The following items are included: