BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FILED
3-23-17
Application of California-American Water 04:59 PM
Company (U210W) for Approval of the Application 12-04-019
Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and (Filed April 23, 2012)
Authorization to Recover All Present and Future
Costs in Rates.

MOTION OF CITY OF MARINA FOR PARTY STATUS

LAYNE P. LONG SARA STECK MYERS

City Manager Attorney at Law
City of Marina 122 - 28th Avenue
211 Hillcrest Avenue San Francisco, CA 94121
Marina, CA 93933 Telephone: 415-387-1904
Telephone: 831-884-1278 Facsimile: 415-387-4708
Email: llong@cityofmarina.org Email: ssmyers@att.net

For: CITY OF MARINA

Dated: March 23, 2017

 BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Application of California-American Water

Company (U210W) for Approval of the Application 12-04-019
Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and (Filed April 23, 2012)
Authorization to Recover All Present and Future
Costs in Rates.

MOTION OF CITY OF MARINA FOR PARTY STATUS

The City of Marina (City or Marina) respectfully moves for party status in

Application (A.) 12-04-019, the application of California-American Water Company (CalAm)

for approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and related rate authorizations

(Application). This Motion is filed and served pursuant to, and in compliance with, Rule

1.4(a)(4) and (b) of the Commissions Rules of Practice and Procedure.

I.
DESCRIPTION OF CITY OF MARINA (Rule 1.4(b)(1))

Marina is a city of approximately 20,370 residents (2013) located along the Pacific Ocean

in northern Monterey County, California. It is a vibrant, racially diverse community with

special and unique natural resources, including its coastal ecosystems, and it values its desirable

quality of life. Marina was incorporated in 1975 and has a total area of approximately 9.8 square

miles. As described in detail below, major portions of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply

Project would be constructed and/or operated in Marina, and many of its impacts would occur in

Marina.

II.
THE MOTION IS TIMELY

This Application is bifurcated into two phases, with Phase 1 addressing whether or not

the Commission should grant applicant a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

(CPCN) for a desalination plant and related facilities that is referred to as the Monterey
1
Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP). 1 Although the Application was originally filed in

2012, an Amended Application was filed by CalAm on March 14, 2016, to provide an updated

project description reflecting the proposed project configuration. 2 Further, on November 21,

2016, the Commission issued its Third Amended Scoping Memo and Ruling of the Assigned

Commissioner Extending Deadline to June 30, 2018 (Third Amended Scoping Memo) and

providing a revised schedule for Phase 1.

In this regard, the Third Amended Scoping Memo states that necessary delays in the

preparation of the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) required under the California

Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the MPWSP have in turn necessitated extensions in the

Commissions consideration and resolution of Phase 1. 3 At present, that work has included both

the draft EIR, as well as the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), as required

under the National Environmental Policy Act, for the MPWSP that have since been combined

into a joint draft EIR/EIS. 4

The Third Amended Scoping Memo makes clear that additional work and further

process necessary to complete the CPCN portion of this proceeding remain outstanding and

must be considered before the Commission when the final EIR/EIS is published including

setting a schedule for parties to file opening and reply legal briefs. 5 Such publication is not

planned until September 25, 2017, with briefing to follow later in 2017 and a Proposed

Decision to be issued in early February 2018.

As described below, it is this still-pending Phase 1 of the Application namely, the

Commissions consideration of whether to grant or deny a Certificate of Public Necessity and

1
Third Amended Scoping Memo, at p. 1.
2
Amended Application, at p. 2.
3
Third Amended Scoping Memo, at p. 2.
4
Id.
5
Id., at pp. 3-4.
2
Convenience (CPCN) for the MPWSP with consideration of the final EIR/EIS that is of

direct interest to and has a direct impact on Marina. Thus, Marina intends to actively participate

in the Application through the briefing of the remaining issues that has yet to be scheduled and

providing comments on the resulting Proposed Decision due in 2018.

Marina also notes that a Motion for Party Status by Citizens for Just Water was granted

on December 21, 2016, with a further Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) Ruling providing

guidance on Just Waters party status issued on January 13, 2017 (January 13 ALJs Ruling).

The January 13 ALJs Ruling confirmed and identified the remaining work required to be

completed in this Application, including a listing of the multiple, unresolved issues related to

granting, conditionally granting, or denying the CPCN and the plan that legal briefs will be

requested of the parties on those issues. 6 Given that Marina has a direct interest in and plans to

brief these remaining issues, as described below, its motion for party status is timely and should

be granted.

III.
CITY OF MARINAS INTENDED FACTUAL AND LEGAL CONTENTIONS
(Rule 1.4(b)(2))

As stated above, major portions of the MPWSP would be constructed and/or operated in

Marina. These components include: (1) the MPWSPs nine new permanent subsurface slant

wells, well heads, piping, and other associated facilities that would be located in the Citys beach

and coastal ecosystem; (2) a portion of the new source water pipeline that would transport water

from the slant wells to the new desalination plant just north of Marina; (3) large portions of the

new desalinated water pipeline and transmission main that would carry the desalinated water to

customers; and (4) the outfall through which the hypersaline effluent from the desalination plant

would be discharged.
6
January 13 ALJs Ruling, at p. 2.
3
 The MPWSP will need to apply to Marina for a discretionary Coastal Development

Permit under the Citys approved Local Coastal Program in accordance with the California

Coastal Act. (Cal. Pub. Res. Code 30000, et seq.) In this capacity, the City is also acting as a

Responsible Agency for the environmental review for the MPWSP currently being conducted by

the Commission under CEQA (Cal. Pub. Res. Code 21000, et seq.).

Apart from this status as a permitting agency for the MPWSP, the City and its citizens

have interests in the key legal and policy issues relating to granting, conditionally granting or

denying the CPCN for the MPWSP. As confirmed in recent Commission rulings in this

Application, these issues, which have yet to be decided, include whether the MPWSP is required

for the public convenience and necessity, whether granting CalAms application would be in the

public interest, whether the groundwater modeling has been appropriately done, the feasibility

of the MPWSP, alternative MPWSPs, and whether the upcoming Final MPWSP EIR complies

with CEQA requirements. 7 Marina intends to contend, both factually and legally, that the

interests of the City must be protected with respect to development of the MPWSP, which

includes, without limitation, protection against adverse impacts to Marinas groundwater

aquifers.

Marina clearly has a direct and substantial interest in the actions taken by the

Commission in this proceeding relating to the decision on whether to grant this CPCN, both as a

public agency making a later discretionary decision on a MPWSP permit and as the municipal

government representative of the interests of Marinas citizens. Thus, Marina has its own unique

interests that are distinct from, and not duplicative of, the interests of current parties.

In particular, Marina intends to make legal and factual contentions, with consideration of

the final EIR/EIS, on the issues identified for the legal briefing that has yet to be scheduled. In
7
Third Amended Scoping Memo, at p. 3; January 13 ALJs Ruling, at pp. 2-3.
4
particular, Marina intends to address whether, among other things, the MPWSP is required for

the public convenience and necessity, whether it is a feasible MPWSP, whether the MPWSP is

in the public interest, and whether the Final EIR that is anticipated in approximately September

2017 is legally adequate under CEQA. Since the Final EIR is not expected until September

2017, the briefing of issues will not occur until thereafter, and the statutory deadline for

completing this proceeding has been extended to June 30, 2018, the granting of party status to

Marina will not delay the proceedings or prejudice any other party. Further, as indicated above,

given that these events have yet to take place, Marinas motion for party status is timely.

Marina further notes that the current MPWSP is the latest in a sequence of proposals by

CalAm to develop a desalination plant and associated facilities to supply water to areas that it

serves on the Monterey Peninsula. As these proposals have evolved over time and have now

focused on a large MPWSP located in Marina and its immediate area, the City has become

increasingly concerned about the MPWSPs feasibility and the MPWSPs potentially significant

impacts on Marinas groundwater supply, groundwater quality, sensitive coastal environment

and citizens. The City is further concerned about whether the MPWSP is in the public interest

and whether it will have disproportionately high siting and operational impacts on the

disadvantaged communities in Marina, in which much of the MPWSP would be sited and most

of its impact would occur, but where none of the produced water would be delivered.

Now that Marina has had an opportunity to review the latest MPWSP proposal and its

potential impacts as reflected in the Draft EIR/EIS issued in January 2017, the City has decided

to become a party to this proceeding. As stated above, given the outstanding issues that remain

and have yet to be scheduled for briefing, Marinas request for party status is timely and

necessary given the Citys important interest in ensuring that the interests of its citizens are

5
represented in the remaining CPCN process in this Application. In addition, as a California

public agency that has a later discretionary permit decision relating to the MPWSP, it has an

important interest in ensuring that the Final EIR document is legally adequate under CEQA for

the Citys use as prescribed by the CEQA Guidelines. 8

IV.
REQUESTED RELIEF

For the reasons stated above, the City of Marina has a direct and substantial interest in,

and intends to make the contentions identified above (among others) pertinent to, the remaining

issues identified as within the scope of A.12-04-019, including but not limited to participating in

the briefing identified in the Third Scoping Memo and the ALJs Ruling of January 13, 2017.

Marina, therefore, moves the Commission to grant Marina party status in A. 12-04-019 for the

purpose of participating actively in this Application, including the filing of both the briefs to be

scheduled later this year and comments on the Proposed Decision expected in early 2018, along

with all other authorized formal pleadings, and participation in any hearings, workshops or other

matters scheduled and/or required in this Application.

Marina further asks that, for the City of Marina, the service list in A. 12-04-019 be

revised to add Layne P. Long, City Manager, with Party status for the City of Marina, and Paul

P. (Skip) Spaulding, III, and Sara Steck Myers, as Information Only:

FOR PARTY STATUS FOR THE CITY OF MARINA:

LAYNE P. LONG
City Manager
City of Marina
211 Hillcrest Avenue
Marina, CA 93933
Telephone: 831-884-1278
Email: llong@cityofmarina.org

8
15 California Code of Regulations (CCR) Section 15096.
6
FOR INFORMATION ONLY:

PAUL P. (SKIP) SPAULDING, III SARA STECK MYERS

Farella Braun + Martel LLP Attorney at Law
Russ Building, Suite 1700 122 - 28th Avenue
235 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94121
San Francisco, CA 94104 Telephone: 415-387-1904
Telephone: 415-954-4400 Facsimile: 415-387-4708
Facsimile: 415-954-4480 Email: ssmyers@att.net
Email: sspaulding@fbm.com
Respectfully submitted,

March 23, 2017 /s/ SARA STECK MYERS

SARA STECK MYERS
Attorney at Law
122 - 28th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121
Telephone: 415-387-1904
Facsimile: 415-387-4708
Email: ssmyers@att.net
And
LAYNE P. LONG
City Manager
City of Marina
211 Hillcrest Avenue
Marina, CA 93933
Telephone: 831-884-1278
Email: llong@cityofmarina.org

FOR: CITY OF MARINA