SECTIONS 21000-21006 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 21000-21006

21000. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) The maintenance of a quality environment for the people of
this state now and in the future is a matter of statewide concern.
(b) It is necessary to provide a high-quality environment that at
all times is healthful and pleasing to the senses and intellect of
man.
(c) There is a need to understand the relationship between the
maintenance of high-quality ecological systems and the general
welfare of the people of the state, including their enjoyment of the
natural resources of the state.
(d) The capacity of the environment is limited, and it is the
intent of the Legislature that the government of the state take
immediate steps to identify any critical thresholds for the health
and safety of the people of the state and take all coordinated
actions necessary to prevent such thresholds being reached.
(e) Every citizen has a responsibility to contribute to the
preservation and enhancement of the environment.
(f) The interrelationship of policies and practices in the
management of natural resources and waste disposal requires
systematic and concerted efforts by public and private interests to
enhance environmental quality and to control environmental pollution.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that all agencies of the
state government which regulate activities of private individuals,
corporations, and public agencies which are found to affect the
quality of the environment, shall regulate such activities so that
major consideration is given to preventing environmental damage,
while providing a decent home and satisfying living environment for
every Californian.

21001. The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the
policy of the state to:
(a) Develop and maintain a high-quality environment now and in the
future, and take all action necessary to protect, rehabilitate, and
enhance the environmental quality of the state.
(b) Take all action necessary to provide the people of this state
with clean air and water, enjoyment of aesthetic, natural, scenic,
and historic environmental qualities, and freedom from excessive
noise.
(c) Prevent the elimination of fish or wildlife species due to man'
s activities, insure that fish and wildlife populations do not drop
below self-prepetuating levels, and preserve for future generations
representations of all plant and animal communities and examples of
the major periods of California history.
(d) Ensure that the long-term protection of the environment,
consistent with the provision of a decent home and suitable living
environment for every Californian, shall be the guiding criterion in
public decisions.
(e) Create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can
exist in productive harmony to fulfill the social and economic
requirements of present and future generations.
(f) Require governmental agencies at all levels to develop
standards and procedures necessary to protect environmental quality.
(g) Require governmental agencies at all levels to consider
qualitative factors as well as economic and technical factors and
long-term benefits and costs, in addition to short-term benefits and
costs and to consider alternatives to proposed actions affecting the
environment.

21001.1. The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the
policy of the state that projects to be carried out by public
agencies be subject to the same level of review and consideration
under this division as that of private projects required to be
approved by public agencies.

21002. The Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of
the state that public agencies should not approve projects as
proposed if there are feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation
measures available which would substantially lessen the significant
environmental effects of such projects, and that the procedures
required by this division are intended to assist public agencies in
systematically identifying both the significant effects of proposed
projects and the feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation
measures which will avoid or substantially lessen such significant
effects. The Legislature further finds and declares that in the event
specific economic, social, or other conditions make infeasible such
project alternatives or such mitigation measures, individual projects
may be approved in spite of one or more significant effects thereof.

21002.1. In order to achieve the objectives set forth in Section
21002, the Legislature hereby finds and declares that the following
policy shall apply to the use of environmental impact reports
prepared pursuant to this division:
(a) The purpose of an environmental impact report is to identify
the significant effects on the environment of a project, to identify
alternatives to the project, and to indicate the manner in which
those significant effects can be mitigated or avoided.
(b) Each public agency shall mitigate or avoid the significant
effects on the environment of projects that it carries out or
approves whenever it is feasible to do so.
(c) If economic, social, or other conditions make it infeasible to
mitigate one or more significant effects on the environment of a
project, the project may nonetheless be carried out or approved at
the discretion of a public agency if the project is otherwise
permissible under applicable laws and regulations.
(d) In applying the policies of subdivisions (b) and (c) to
individual projects, the responsibility of the lead agency shall
differ from that of a responsible agency. The lead agency shall be
responsible for considering the effects, both individual and
collective, of all activities involved in a project. A responsible
agency shall be responsible for considering only the effects of those
activities involved in a project which it is required by law to
carry out or approve. This subdivision applies only to decisions by a
public agency to carry out or approve a project and does not
otherwise affect the scope of the comments that the public agency may
wish to make pursuant to Section 21104 or 21153.
(e) To provide more meaningful public disclosure, reduce the time
and cost required to prepare an environmental impact report, and
focus on potentially significant effects on the environment of a
proposed project, lead agencies shall, in accordance with Section
21100, focus the discussion in the environmental impact report on
those potential effects on the environment of a proposed project
which the lead agency has determined are or may be significant. Lead
agencies may limit discussion on other effects to a brief explanation
as to why those effects are not potentially significant.

21003. The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the
policy of the state that:
(a) Local agencies integrate the requirements of this division
with planning and environmental review procedures otherwise required
by law or by local practice so that all those procedures, to the
maximum feasible extent, run concurrently, rather than consecutively.
(b) Documents prepared pursuant to this division be organized and
written in a manner that will be meaningful and useful to
decisionmakers and to the public.
(c) Environmental impact reports omit unnecessary descriptions of
projects and emphasize feasible mitigation measures and feasible
alternatives to projects.
(d) Information developed in individual environmental impact
reports be incorporated into a data base which can be used to reduce
delay and duplication in preparation of subsequent environmental
impact reports.
(e) Information developed in environmental impact reports and
negative declarations be incorporated into a data base which may be
used to make subsequent or supplemental environmental determinations.
(f) All persons and public agencies involved in the environmental
review process be responsible for carrying out the process in the
most efficient, expeditious manner in order to conserve the available
financial, governmental, physical, and social resources with the
objective that those resources may be better applied toward the
mitigation of actual significant effects on the environment.

21003.1. The Legislature further finds and declares it is the
policy of the state that:
(a) Comments from the public and public agencies on the
environmental effects of a project shall be made to lead agencies as
soon as possible in the review of environmental documents, including,
but not limited to, draft environmental impact reports and negative
declarations, in order to allow the lead agencies to identify, at the
earliest possible time in the environmental review process,
potential significant effects of a project, alternatives, and
mitigation measures which would substantially reduce the effects.
(b) Information relevant to the significant effects of a project,
alternatives, and mitigation measures which substantially reduce the
effects shall be made available as soon as possible by lead agencies,
other public agencies, and interested persons and organizations.
(c) Nothing in subdivisions (a) or (b) reduces or otherwise limits
public review or comment periods currently prescribed either by
statute or in guidelines prepared and adopted pursuant to Section
21083 for environmental documents, including, but not limited to,
draft environmental impact reports and negative declarations.

21004. In mitigating or avoiding a significant effect of a project
on the environment, a public agency may exercise only those express
or implied powers provided by law other than this division. However,
a public agency may use discretionary powers provided by such other
law for the purpose of mitigating or avoiding a significant effect on
the environment subject to the express or implied constraints or
limitations that may be provided by law.

21005. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy
of the state that noncompliance with the information disclosure
provisions of this division which precludes relevant information from
being presented to the public agency, or noncompliance with
substantive requirements of this division, may constitute a
prejudicial abuse of discretion within the meaning of Sections 21168
and 21168.5, regardless of whether a different outcome would have
resulted if the public agency had complied with those provisions.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in undertaking
judicial review pursuant to Sections 21168 and 21168.5, courts shall
continue to follow the established principle that there is no
presumption that error is prejudicial.
(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that any court,
which finds, or, in the process of reviewing a previous court
finding, finds, that a public agency has taken an action without
compliance with this division, shall specifically address each of the
alleged grounds for noncompliance.

21006. The Legislature finds and declares that this division is an
integral part of any public agency's decisionmaking process,
including, but not limited to, the issuance of permits, licenses,
certificates, or other entitlements required for activities
undertaken pursuant to federal statutes containing specific waivers
of sovereign immunity.