It is the policy of the State of California that the location and operation of thermal electric powerplants shall enhance public benefits and protect against or minimize adverse effects on the public, the ecology of the land and its wildlife, and the ecology of state waters and their aquatic life, and that the public’s opportunity to enjoy the material, physical and aesthetic benefits of its resources shall be preserved to the greatest extent feasible.

The Legislature declares that it is also the policy of the state to encourage the use of nuclear energy, geothermal resources, and such other energy sources as are currently under development, wherever feasible, recognizing that such use has the potential of providing direct economic benefit to the public, while helping to conserve limited fossil fuel resources and promoting air cleanliness.

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The Legislature further declares that it is the policy of the state to encourage planning by the state’s electric utilities toward the above-stated objectives and to assist the utilities in their evaluations of the effects on the environment of proposed thermal powerplant sites and to that end a State Powerplant Siting Committee has been established to effect such coordination with the utilities and to carry out specific responsibilities as may be defined in the Public Utilities Code and the Public Resources Code.

The Legislature finds that the state should conduct research relating to the conservation, enhancement and prudent use of its resources, including those associated with the siting of thermal powerplants.

The Legislature finds that the state should also stimulate, sponsor and conduct appropriate research and study on new methods of powerplant siting which offer potential for enhanced public benefits in location, operation, and protection of the environment with such investigations including underground and underocean sites, manmade islands, powerplant parks, the desirability of locations on or near tidal lagoons, and other concepts which may appear attractive in minimizing the impact on the environment of the large projected increase in California electric generating capacity.

(Added by Stats. 1970, Ch. 1299.)