CEQA

Subscribe to CEQA via RSS

By Katherine J. Hart

The Marin Municipal Water District (District) proposed to construct a desalination plant in Marin County, and certified an environmental impact report (EIR) for the project. The North Coast Rivers Alliance (Alliance) challenged the EIR on the grounds that the EIR failed to properly analyze various impact categories, including aesthetics, land use and planning, seismology, hydrology and water quality, biological resources, and greenhouse gases. The Alliance further claimed that a number of mitigation measures were improperly deferred, and that a feasible green energy alternative was not considered in violation of CEQA. The trial court granted the writ, but on appeal, the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, reversed and ordered the trial court to issue a new judgment denying the writ petition. North Coast Rivers Alliance Et Al. v. Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors (May 21, 2013, A133821, A135626) ___Cal.App.4th ___.Continue Reading EIR For Desalination Plant Upheld

By William W. Abbott

Taxpayers for Accountable School Bond Spending v. San Diego Unified School District (April 25, 2013, D060999) ___ Cal.App.4th ___.

The voters within the San Diego Unified School District passed a school bond measure to school facilities upgrades. The school board voted to use bond proceeds to install field lighting at Hoover High School. Neighbors, concerned with the increased traffic and parking conflicts resulting from nighttime events filed suit challenging the approval as an unauthorized use of bond proceeds and for improper reliance upon a negative declaration, among other claims. The trial court ruled for the District, and the neighbors (“Taxpayers”) appealed. The court of appeal reversed on the bond authorization claim, and reversed in part on the CEQA claim.Continue Reading Court Gives Failing Grade For School Bond Expenditure For Field Lights; Returns Neg Dec. As Incomplete

By Katherine J. Hart

Senate Bill No. 731, Introduced by Senator Darrell Steinberg in February 22, 2013, as amended on April 23, 2013.

I’m the first person to doubt all the chatter about significant CEQA reform. In fact, for reasons I’ll spare you, I’m a complete pessimist when it comes right down to it. But in reviewing Darrell Steinberg’s amended bill, and despite our Governor’s comments in China on the subject last week, I saw a glimmer of hope for some reform.Continue Reading Steinberg’s Amended CEQA Bill – SB 731-May Have A Chance

By William W. Abbott, Diane Kindermann, Katherine J. Hart and Glen Hansen

It is hard to believe that after a tsunami of CEQA decisions in 2012 that there are only three published CEQA cases in the first quarter of 2013. Our advice is to rest up and enjoy the break as there are five cases pending before the California Supreme Court. These include the unusual circumstances limitation on exemptions (Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley); setting the baseline (Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority); application of CEQA to council enactment of measures which qualify as initiatives on local ballots (Tuolumne Jobs & Small Business Alliance v. Superior Court); and mitigation requirements (City of San Diego v. Board of Trustees, and City of Hayward v. Board of Trustees.)Continue Reading 2013 CEQA 1st QUARTER REVIEW

By Katherine J. Hart

In Alliance for the Protection of the Auburn Community Environment v. County of Placer (April 2, 2013, C067961) ___Cal.App.4th ___, the Third District Appellate Court held that California Code of Civil Procedure section 473 does not provide relief from a petitioner’s mistake that resulted in the late filing of a CEQA petition. While the provisions of section 473 are to be liberally construed, the statute cannot be construed to offer relief from mandatory deadlines deemed jurisdictional in nature such as Public Resources Code section 21167.Continue Reading CCP 473 Does Not Provide Relief For Late Filing Of CEQA Petition

By William W. Abbott

Save Cuyama Valley v. County of Santa Barbara (2013) 213 Cal. App. 4th 1059. Troesh Materials, Inc. submitted an application to the County of Santa Barbara (“County”) to operate a new mine within the dry bed of the Cuyama River. The mine would be positioned way from the active streambed, and roughly 1500 feet upstream from an existing, active mine. Potential excavation could proceed to a maximum depth of 90 feet, with an average production of 500,000 cubic yards per year. Petitioner filed a CEQA petition for writ of mandate which was denied by the trial court. The ensuing appeal involved two topical areas: hydrological and water resource (supply/quality) impacts.Continue Reading Court Affirms EIR for 30 Year Mining Operation; erroneous impact conclusion did not invalidate the EIR

By William W. Abbott, Diane Kindermann, Elizabeth Strahlstrom, Katherine J. Hart, Glen Hansen, and Daniel Cucchi

We are pleased to present our cumulative Fourth Quarter CEQA Review for 2012. In addition to being italicized and bolded, the newest decisions issued in this fourth quarter are underlined and preceded by asterisks (***).

In terms of new developments, OPR is moving forward with its CEQA Guidelines implementing SB 226 (infill streamlining). Will cities embrace these new streamlining provisions?Continue Reading 2012 CEQA 4th QUARTER REVIEW

By Katherine J. Hart

In Banning Ranch Conservancy v. City of Newport Beach (2012) ___ Cal.App.4th ___, the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, considered whether the City of Newport Beach’s (City) proposal to develop the Sunset Ridge Park was reviewed in a piecemeal fashion (separate and apart from the adjacent proposed Banning Ranch project), and whether the environmental impacts of the park (e.g., cumulative traffic and biological resources impacts, growth-inducing impacts, habitat impacts) were sufficiently considered and mitigated by the City in its EIR. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment and denial of the writ.Continue Reading Neither A Shared Access Road Nor The Gnatcatcher Stop Sunset Ridge Park Project Under CEQA

By William W. Abbott

Central Basin Municipal Water District v. Water Replenishment District Of Southern California(2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 943. Notwithstanding CEQA’s pervasive application, there are-on rare occasions-circumstances in which agency action is exempt from CEQA compliance. The most recent example involves a declaration of water emergency approved by the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) in the Central Basin in Southern California. WRD manages groundwater for approximately 4,000,000 residents and 43 cities. In 1991, a trial court entered judgment pertaining to groundwater management in the basin. The judgment authorized WRD to declare a water emergency in circumstances in which the basin resources risked degradation. The judgment also included a “physical solution”, a phrase of art in water law, describing a comprehensive program for groundwater management. A consequence of the declaration of emergency is that the time period for extractors to remove and replenish water would be extended into later years.Continue Reading Declaration of Water Emergency in Furtherance of a Judgment Was Exempt From CEQA

By Glen C. Hansen

For decades, oil and gas producers in California have been engaged in the process of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking.” That process involves injecting a high pressure stream of water and chemicals deep underground to split rocks and release oil and natural gas. The technique is designed to free oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock. There is a significant amount of such rock in California. For example, the Monterey Shale, which lies under Central California and the southern San Joaquin Valley, could hold up to 15 billion barrels of oil, making it possibly the nation’s largest oil shale formation and almost half of the nation’s total shale oil resources.Continue Reading As Lawsuits Begin In California Over Oil And Gas “Fracking,” The State Issues “Discussion Draft” Regulations For The Process