Statute
CEQA
1,312 published works
Environmental and Climate
Second Appellate District Upholds PG&E Lease Extension as Categorically Exempt from CEQA, Finds Unusual Circumstance Exception Inapplicable to Extension of Nuclear Power Plant Lease
In World Business Academy v. California State Lands Commission (2018) 24 Cal.App.5th 476, the Second Appellate District determined that renewing a lease for an existing power plant constituted a categorically…
Environmental and Climate
Second Appellate District Calls Settlement Agreement Part of “Project” for CEQA Consideration In Line with Historically Broad “Project” Definition
In County of Ventura v. City of Moorpark (2018) 24 Cal.App.5th 377, the Second Appellate District upheld a CEQA statutory exemption applied to a project undertaken by the State-created Broad…
Environmental and Climate
OPR Issues Helpful Technical Advisory Listing CEQA Exemptions Outside CEQA Statute
The CEQA Statute and Guidelines both contain provisions outlining what types of projects are exempt from environmental review. There are dozens of exemptions, however, that are listed in other provisions…
CEQA Developments
Filtering The CEQA Noise: First District Upholds Santa Rosa’s Negative Declaration For “Dream Center” Youth Housing Project, Holds Non-Expert Predictions Of Significant Noise Impacts Failed To Raise “Fair Argument” Supported By Substantial Evidence
A development project’s potential noise impacts can implicate complex and technical issues under CEQA, particularly where those impacts are asserted, in litigation by project opponents challenging a negative declaration, as…
Environment, Land & Resources
California Court of Appeal Finds EIR’s Air Quality Analysis Deficient
By Christopher Garrett, James Erselius, and Samantha Seikkula CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[1] In a partially published opinion[2] issued January 12, 2018, City of Long Beach…
Environment, Land & Resources
California Court of Appeal Approves Environmental Analysis for Oil Refinery Propane Recovery Project
By Winston P. Stromberg, Lucas I. Quass, and Derek Galey Rodeo Citzens Ass’n v. County of Contra Costa, California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Three, Case No. A151184…
CEQA Developments
When “Tigers Eat Their Young” – Federal Preemption Of CEQA In Context Of Railroad Projects Will Continue To Present Complex Issues Following U.S. Supreme Court’s Denial of Certiorari In Friends Of Eel River Case
On April 30, 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed in North Coast Railroad Authority v. Friends of the Eel River, U.S. Supreme…
Environmental and Climate
Update: SCOTUS Declines Review of Friends of the Eel River CEQA Preemption Decision
The United States Supreme Court will not be taking up the California Supreme Court’s July 2017 decision in the Friends of the Eel River case. In that decision, authored by…
Environmental and Climate
First Appellate District Denies Initial Study Noise Level Challenge to Transitional Housing Project Based on Non-Expert Analysis
In Jensen v. City of Santa Rosa (2018) 23 Cal.App.5th 877, the First Appellate District held that noise impacts from a proposed youth center and transitional housing project were properly…
Environmental and Climate
Appeals Court Finds that EIR for Planned Los Angeles Railyard for Storage and Transfer of Goods Failed to Sufficiently Consider Air Quality Impacts
On January 12, 2018, the First Appellate District held that the California Attorney General need not exhaust administrative remedies in order to contest the adequacy of Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs)…