1001.

 (a) A railroad corporation whose railroad is operated primarily by electricity, street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, water corporation, or sewer system corporation shall not begin the construction of a street railroad, of a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require its construction.

(b) (1) The extension, expansion, upgrade, rebuilding, or other modification of an existing electrical transmission facility, including transmission lines and substations, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction.

(2) The construction of a new electrical transmission facility, or the extension, expansion, upgrade, rebuilding, or other modification of an electrical transmission facility, including lines and substations, by an electrical corporation serving 10,000 or more retail customers, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission, if the new or modified electrical transmission facility meets all of the following requirements:

(A) It will be rated at not more than 138 kilovolts.

(B) It will meet one of the following requirements:

(i) It will be located entirely on previously disturbed land, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 25794.6 of the Public Resources Code.

(ii) It will be located entirely in an urbanized area, as delineated by the United States Census Bureau.

(iii) It will be part of a project that has undergone review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(C) It will not be located on any of the following:

(i) A wetland, as defined by the State Water Resources Control Board.

(ii) Any unremediated hazardous waste site designated under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.), or pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code.

(iii) A critical habitat as designated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or habitat essential to the continued existence of an endangered or threatened species as determined by the Department of Fish and Wildlife pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code).

(3) No later than January 1, 2025, the commission shall update General Order 131 to implement paragraph (2) so that all facilities that qualify under paragraph (2) will be treated as electric distribution facilities are treated under General Order 131-D.

(c) This article does not require those corporations to secure that certificate for an extension within any city or city and county within which it has lawfully commenced operations, for an extension into territory either within or without a city or city and county contiguous to its street railroad, line, plant, or system, and not served by a public utility of like character, or for an extension within or to territory already served by it, necessary in the ordinary course of its business. If any public utility, in constructing or extending its line, plant, or system, interferes or is about to interfere with the operation of the line, plant, or system of any other public utility or of the water system of a public agency, already constructed, the commission, on complaint of the public utility or public agency claiming to be injuriously affected, may, after hearing, make an order and prescribe terms and conditions for the location of the lines, plants, or systems affected as it may seem just and reasonable.