(a) The master environmental impact report shall not be used for the purposes of this chapter if either of the following has occurred:
(1) The certification of the master environmental impact report occurred more than five years prior to the filing of an application for the subsequent project.
(2) The filing of an application for the subsequent project occurs following the certification of the master environmental impact report, and the approval of a project that was not described in the master environmental impact report, may affect the adequacy of the environmental review in the master environmental impact report for any subsequent project.
(b) A master environmental impact report that was certified more than five years prior to the filing of an application for the subsequent project may be used for purposes of this chapter to review a subsequent project that was described in the master environmental impact report if the lead agency reviews the adequacy of the master environmental impact report and does either of the following:
(1) Finds that no substantial changes have occurred with respect to the circumstances under which the master environmental impact report was certified or that no new information, which was not known and could not have been known at the time that the master environmental impact report was certified as complete, has become available.
(2) Prepares an initial study and, pursuant to the findings of the initial study, does either of the following:
(A) Certifies a subsequent or supplemental environmental impact report that has been either incorporated into the previously certified master environmental impact report or references any deletions, additions, or any other modifications to the previously certified master environmental impact report.
(B) Approves a mitigated negative declaration that addresses substantial changes that have occurred with respect to the circumstances under which the master environmental impact report was certified or the new information that was not known and could not have been known at the time the master environmental impact report was certified.
(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 684, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2005.)