Proceeding Number A.12-04-019 MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT’S CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS ON THE SETTLING PARTIES’ 1) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND 2) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PLANT SIZE AND OPERATION

ABSTRACT: Re: In the Matter of the Application of California American Water Company (U 210 W) for Approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and Authorization to Recover All Present and Future Costs in Rates, MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT’S CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS ON THE SETTLING PARTIES’ 1) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND 2) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PLANT SIZE AND OPERATION document is embedded. Importantly, CONCLUSION Because the MPWSP, as proposed by the Settling Parties, would 1) violate MCWD’s rights under the 1996 Annexation Agreement, 2) violate the Agency Act, and 3) proceed on an insufficient record without the completion of the environmental review required by CEQA and the evidentiary hearing exploring environmental factors required by the Public Utilities Code, the Settlement Motions seek approval of agreements that are not reasonable in light of the whole record, are not consistent with law, and are not in the public interest. The project configuration must be modified to avoid injury to MCWD and to comply with the Agency Act. The project’s potential environmental impacts must be thoroughly examined through the Commission’s completion, evaluation and certification of its Subsequent EIR, and its exploration of the environmental impacts of the project at a hearing, and the deficiencies noted above must be corrected. Only after CEQA review is completed can the public agency Settling Parties have a sound basis for joining the settlements and approving the project, and only after environmental review is completed and the Commission conducts its evidentiary hearing on environmental factors can the record be sufficient to support the proposed settlements, project approval and the grant of a CPCN under the Public Utilities Code. Even assuming the environmental concerns noted above could be resolved, the Commission could only approve these or revised settlements if the MPWSP as described in the proposed settlements could be modified both so as to avoid injury to MCWD by using the CEMEX property for its source wells and to avoid illegally exporting groundwater from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, and the Commission then determined that the modified settlements were reasonable, consistent with law and in the public interest.
Absent revisions to the MPWSP and the settlements that resolve the legal problems posed by the project’s non-compliance with section 21 of the Agency Act and its placement of source wells on the CEMEX property, and absent the Commission’s lawful resolution of the environmental review issues raised above, MCWD respectfully requests that the Commission deny both of the Settlement Motions.

MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT'S CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS ON THE SETTLING PARTIES’.pdf Filing Date 08-30-13

MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT’S CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS ON THE SETTLING PARTIES’ 1) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND 2) MOTION TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PLANT SIZE AND OPERATION