Projects which will affect environmentally significant lands will be subject to review by the use of the CEQA process under the California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code Sections 21000, et seq.); the State EIR Guidelines (14 California Administrative Code Sections 15000, et seq.); and the Commission's Regulations for the Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (Article 10 of this Chapter).

In order to provide permanent protection to environmentally significant values, projects must be designed to be consistent with the use classifications assigned under the Significant Lands Inventory or pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 6219. If such consistency cannot be accomplished through mitigation or alteration of the project, the project must be denied. The Commission may not apply Section 15089 of the State EIR Guidelines, regarding a Statement of Overriding Considerations, to approve a project which cannot be made consistent with the use classification assigned to the subject parcel.