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E Mr. Ron Valinoti October 10, 1991 Page 4 III. No CEQA Review Requirement Is Triggered. While we address PHS' several operational and engineering comments in Exhibit 6, we would like to address one of PHS' legal comments indicating that a review under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") may be required. Unfortunately the comment did not indicate on what basis CEQA might apply, and we thus have carefully reviewed all possible points of application. Our analysis shows no grounds for invoking a CEQA review where a permittee such as Cove is continuing operations for which it has been lawfully permitted since 1979.21 Our rationale for this informed conclusion pivots on the important fact that Cove is not seeking to change the operations for which Cove is already permitted. A. No Triggering Project Exists. CEQA generally applies to discretionary "projects" re- quiring issuance of government permits which may result in a direct or indirect physical change in the environment.V Cove does not require a new or revised permit for its proposed ASW disposal activities, in that it already has a valid permit for precisely these activities. Cove's proposed renewed activities will result in no new direct or indirect physical changes to the environment, other than those contemplated in 1979. In short, continuing already permitted activities under an existing permit does not trigger a CEQA review, because there is no triggering "project." Our conclusion on this point conforms with that expressed in the enclosed correspondence to and from Bob Ching, Deputy Director of the Planning Division for the City of Stockton (the "City"). The City, as the appropriate local enforcement agency, has recently reviewed the activities at the Facility yet again, and determined that no discretionary permit is necessary from the City and that the landfill is consistent with the City's General Plan.V 7/ The six-month statute of limitations on the decision to forego a CEQA review at the time that the permit was issued has long ago run. Cal. Pub. Res. Code S 21167(a), (d); 14 Cal. Code of Regulations S 15112(c)(5). 8/ Cal. Pub. Res. Code SS 21080, 21065; 14 Cal. Code of Regulations S 15378. See Exhibit 4.