[Editor’s Note: The monthly meeting of the Culver City Democratic Club is at 7 o’clock this evening in the Rotunda Room of the Vets Auditorium.]
The Culver City Democratic Club’s July meeting willfeature a talk by C. Tom Williams, Ph.D (in geology), on how to evaluate a draft environmental impact report (EIR). This will be in anticipation of the draft EIR that Culver City hopes to roll out to the public in the September/October period. The EIR will cover oil and gas exploration in the Culver City portion of the Inglewood Oil Field, which covers 10 percent of the entire field.
According to case law, the EIR is at the heart of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. This statute was passed in 1970 after the federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act to institute a statewide policy of
environmental protection.
CEQA requires state and local agencies within California to follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of proposed projects and to adopt feasible measures to mitigate those impacts.
One alternative that a lead agency usually must consider is the no-project alternative. This means cancellation of the project and anticipated proposals of new projects in its place. Among all the alternatives, the EIR identifies the environmentally
superior alternative. If the environmentally superior alternative is the no-project alternative, the EIR identifies the environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives.
The EIR process begins with the circulation of a Notice of Preparation that informs the public and responsible agencies that an EIR will be prepared for a given project.
After preparation of the draft EIR, a Notice of Completion must be submitted to the Office of Planning and Research. This
includes project location, location of review copies and public comment review period.
If the draft EIR is circulated through the state clearing house, then the public comment period must be 45 days minimally. The lead agency must prepare a final EIR before approving the project. The lead agency then certifies the final EIR and issues its findings.
Should significant and unavoidable impacts remain after mitigation, a Statement of Overriding Considerations must
be prepared.
Finally, the lead agency may decide whether or how to approve or carry out the project. Afterward, a notice of
determination must be filed within five days of approval.
Appeal periods and litigation avenues remain open.
President of the Culver City Democratic Club, Dr. Gyi may be contacted at President@CulverCityDemocraticClub.com
