Wildfire Planning Tool for Bidirectional Long-Term Risk Quantification and Management
Summary
SCH Number
2025101035
Public Agency
California Energy Commission
Document Title
Wildfire Planning Tool for Bidirectional Long-Term Risk Quantification and Management
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
10/22/2025
Document Description
The purpose of this Agreement is to fund the design and development of a software platform to quantify and manage mid-and long-term bidirectional wildfire risk posed to and by electrical infrastructure, thus enabling the development of strategic plans for grid expansion and wildfire mitigation. This Agreement will deliver ratepayer benefits by improving electricity reliability, reducing long-term costs, and enhancing safety. These benefits will be achieved by enabling utilities to accurately quantify and manage bidirectional wildfire risk while incorporating mid-and long-term climate trends.
Contact Information
Name
Aryana Sherzai
Agency Name
California Energy Commission
Job Title
Electric Generation System Specialist I
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
Enrique López Droguett
Agency Name
UCLA Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences
Job Title
Project Manager/ Professor
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Los Angeles, San Francisco
Counties
Los Angeles, San Francisco
Regions
Statewide
Cross Streets
Westwood Plaza/Strathmore St
Other Location Info
404 Westwood Plz Los Angeles 90095
75 Starview Way San Francisco 94131 San Francisco
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15306
Reasons for Exemption
Cal. Code Regs, tit. 14, sec. 15306 provides that projects which consist of basic data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource are categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA. This project will develop a software-based climate-informed wildfire planning tool, which will involve research and data analysis, data fusion, computer-based numerical modeling and simulations, and software development performed in existing office settings. The project does not require a permit and entails no direct changes to the environment. For these reasons, the proposed project will have no significant effect on the environment and is categorically exempt under CEQA under section 15306.
This project does not involve impacts on any particularly sensitive environment; will not impact an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern where designated, precisely mapped, and officially adopted pursuant to law by federal, state, or local agencies; any cumulative impacts of successive projects of the same type in the same place that might be considered significant; does not involve unusual circumstances that might have a significant effect on the environment; will not result in damage to scenic resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; the project sites are not included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5, and the project will not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. Therefore, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions listed in CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project and this project will not have a significant effect on the environment.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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