Land Use, Environmental, and Real Estate Law in California
By Leslie Z. Walker
As mandated by SB 375 (Stats 2008, Ch.728) the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is required to set passenger vehicle greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction targets for 2020 and 2035 for each of the 18 Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) regions in California. CARB must set the targets by September 30, 2010. (Gov. Code, § 65080 subd. (b)(2)(A).)…
Continue Reading . . . And the Number is . . . Five to Ten Percent Reduction Target for 2020
By Leslie Z. Walker
In City of Santee v. County of San Diego (June 7, 2010, D055310) __Cal.App.4th__ the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that an agreement between the County of San Diego and the Department of Corrections under which the County identified potential locations for a state prison reentry facility in exchange for preference in the awards of state financing of county jail facilities did not constitute a commitment to a definite course of action. As such, Save Tara v. City of West Hollywood (2008) 45 Cal.4th 116 did not require the County to conduct environmental review prior to entering into the agreement.
Continue Reading Appellate Court Post – Save Tara: Preliminary Exploration Does Not Constitute Project Commitment for CEQA
Highlights for this update include the three firsts on the climate change front: (1) adoption of CEQA guidelines for the quantification and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”), (2) the adoption of the first thresholds of significance for GHG, and (3) the first appellate court case finding an Environmental Impact Report’s (“EIR”) analysis of GHG inadequate.
Continue Reading 2010 MID-YEAR CEQA UPDATE
The City of San Diego was not required to conduct supplemental environmental review on the issue of climate change, where the only discretionary action was limited to the aesthetics of the project.
Continue Reading Limited Discretion Related to Aesthetics did not Trigger Need for Supplemental EIR on Climate Change Impacts
Regional Board TMDLs for Salt/Boron and Dissolved Oxygen Upheld by Third Appellate District.
Continue Reading Basin Plan Amendments Addressing Impairments for Salt, Boron and Dissolved Oxygen are Valid
By William W. Abbott
The shelf life of mitigation measures may readily outlast the lives of the projects to which they are attached, according to the First Appellate District. While the fact pattern is specific to timber harvesting and later conversion, the holding has application in the broader world of all CEQA practice.Continue Reading The Long Life of CEQA Mitigation Measures
The California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) (“CEQA”) provides that the purpose of an environmental impact report (“EIR”) is “to provide public agencies and the public in general with detailed information about the effect which a proposed project is likely to have on the environment.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 21061.) In Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino (2010) __ Cal.App.4th __, the court found that an EIR for a proposed open-air composting facility did not satisfy the informational purposes of an EIR in relation to air quality alternatives and water supply…
Continue Reading Put a Lid on It: EIR for Open Air Human Waste Composting Facility Held Invalid
In the first ever appellate court decision regarding CEQA and climate change, the First District Court of Appeal held the future development of a plan for greenhouse gas mitigation constitutes deferred mitigation. The Court also found the project description inadequate for failure to adequately describe whether the project would result in the refinery processing heavier crude because the EIR was internally inconsistent as well as inconsistent with other documents discussing the project.
Continue Reading 898,000 Metric Tons of Unmitigated CO2: Prime Conditions for the First Appellate Court Decision on CEQA and Climate Change
An appellate court sets aside a newly adopted general plan on grounds of incompatibility with the State Aeronautics Act, and on the basis of failure to consider a lower growth alternative in the EIR.
It has long been said that the general plan is the constitution for development and growth. In reality, the general plan has, on a selected basis, been subverted to other special planning purposes such as coastal planning, preservation of San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe and, as in the subject to this article, airport planning.
Continue Reading City’s New General Plan is not Cleared for Take-off, Returns to Base and is Grounded: Court Sets Aside Watsonville General Plan for Non Compliance with State Aeronautical Act and CEQA Requirements
Appellate court affirms range of alternatives in EIR for facility expansion as sufficient; bars additional claims for plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
Continue Reading Regents’ CEQA Document Receives a Passing Grade; Opponent Marked Down for Inadequate Participation
