The California State Legislature adopted the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 1970 which requires local and state governments to consider and disclose the possible environmental effects of a project before approval and provides guidelines for that process.

During an environmental review, LADWP, serving as the lead agency under CEQA, conducts studies and analysis of various environmental factors to determine if the proposed project or action may have a significant effect on the environment and incorporates mitigation measures or project refinements as necessary to reduce that level of impact. 

The types of impacts included in CEQA review include: Aesthetics, Land Use/Planning, Agriculture/Forestry, Mineral, Resources, Air Quality, Noise, Biological Resources, Population/Housing, Cultural Resources, Public Services, Energy, Recreation, Geology/Soils, Transportation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Tribal Cultural Resources, Hazards/Hazardous , Materials, Utilities/Services Systems, Hydrology/Water Quality, Wildfire. 

CEQA is intended to:

  • Inform governmental decision makers and the public about potential, significant environmental effects of proposed activities.
  • Disclose and evaluate the potential significant environmental impacts of proposed projects.
  • Identify ways that environmental damage can be avoided or significantly reduced.
  • Prevent significant, avoidable damage to the environment by requiring changes in projects through the use of alternatives or mitigation measures.

CEQA applies to any project, activity or discretionary action (capital project, maintenance project or board decision) and its applicability must be considered.

Some actions are exempt from CEQA because they either do not meet the definition of a project or fall under some other categorical or statutory exemption in the CEQA Public Resource Code. For these projects, Notices of Exemptions (NOEs) may be prepared and filed.

Key Terms, definitions and abbreviations:

  • Initial Study (IS): An IS looks at a project's possible environmental effects and their relative significance. It helps decide whether to prepare a Negative Declaration (ND), Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), or an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
    IS is a preliminary analysis prepared by the lead agency to determine whether a Negative Declaration (ND), Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), or an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must be prepared, or to identify the significant environmental effects to be analyzed in an EIR.
  • Negative Declaration (ND): An ND is prepared when an IS finds there are no major harmful environmental effects when a project is not exempt from CEQA. The ND describes the reasons why it will not have a significant environmental effect and does not require an EIR nor mitigation measures.
    ND is a written statement by the lead agency briefly describing the reasons that a proposed project, not exempt from CEQA, will not have a significant effect on the environment and therefore does not require the preparation on an EIR.
  • Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND): An MND is prepared when an IS finds potential environmental effects when a project is not exempt from CEQA. It describes ways to ease or altogether avoid possible effects through the implementation and approval of mitigation measures.
    MND is prepared when the IS of a proposed project, not exempt from CEQA, has identified potentially significant effects on the environment but revisions in the project would avoid the effects or mitigate the effects to a point where clearly no significant effect on the environment would occur.
  • A Notice of Intent (NOI) to Adopt a Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration is a brief notice published when an ND or MND document is available for public review and comment. NDs and MNDs are required to be available for public review and comment for at least 20 days.
  • Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
    When environmental impacts cannot be mitigated, this detailed document is created to review the proposed project’s:
    • potentially harmful environmental effects
    • measures to avoid or reduce those effects
    • alternatives to the project
    • statement of overriding considerations when potentially harmful environmental effects cannot be mitigated
    • EIRs are required to be available for public review and comment for at least 30 days.
  • Notice of Preparation (NOP): a brief notice prepared by the lead agency to notify the responsible agencies, trustee agencies, involved federal agencies and the public that the lead agency plans to prepare an EIR for the proposed project.
  • Notice of Availability (NOA) of a DEIR: a brief notice informing the public that an agency has issued a DEIR for a project and that the DEIR is available for public review and comment.
  • Draft EIR: an EIR containing the information specified in the CEQA Guidelines Article 9: Contents of Environmental Impact Reports.
  • Final EIR (FEIR): an EIR containing the information contained in the draft EIR, comments received in the review process, a list of persons commenting, and the response of the lead agency to the comments received.
  • Notice of Determination (NOD): a brief notice filed by a public agency after it approves or determines to carry out a project which is subject to the requirements of CEQA.
  • Notice of Exemption (NOE):  a brief notice prepared by a public agency after it has determined that the project is exempt from CEQA as being ministerial, categorically exempt, an emergency, or subject to another exemption from CEQA.

Tribal Consultation:
The preparation of environmental documents involves public disclosure to regulatory agencies and the public to review the data, analyses, and conclusions reached in the environmental review process. Early in the planning of the environmental document, LADWP initiates tribal consultation under CEQA/Assembly Bill (AB) 52. Refer to the following links to learn more information about the LADWP Environmental Planning and Assessment Group's Procedure for Tribal Consultation under CEQA. 

Other Resources:  

CEQA Pre-Workshop Webinar

Note: CEQAnet is the state’s online environmental database managed by California's Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) State Clearinghouse (SCH) that provides access to environmental documents and notices filed under CEQA since 1990. View LADWP CEQA documents on CEQAnet.