Alert > Climate Change Group / Land Use and Development
Global Warming and the Future of CEQA
California’s Attorney General has launched an attack that puts global warming at the forefront of controversies under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Attorney General has taken the unusual step of filing a CEQA claim against San Bernardino County for failing to address effects on global warming in its Environmental Impact Report for its General Plan update. The Attorney General’s suit, combined with similar claims by environmental groups against other public entities and developers, sends a clear signal that the global warming debate has intersected with the enforcement of California’s environmental laws.
Global warming is no longer just a topic for the academic world. In 2006, the California Legislature enacted AB 32, which seeks a 25% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. Also in 2006, the California Attorney General filed suit against six automakers, seeking damages related to global warming. More recently, the United States Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, which held that the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles.
It was only a matter of time before the issue reached CEQA actions. An early greenhouse gas challenge to a CEQA document came in November 2006. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the City of Banning, seeking to overturn the approval of a 1500 home development. The suit alleges that the project will result in large emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, because the project will increase vehicle trips, and the EIR prepared for the project fails to analyze those emissions or associated global warming impacts. That case remains pending.
The Center filed a similar lawsuit on April 11, 2007, challenging San Bernardino County’s new General Plan. Two days later, the Attorney General also sued. San Bernardino updated its General Plan to accommodate a projected 25% increase in the county’s population by the year 2030. The Attorney General contends “despite the enactment of AB 32, the FEIR on the General Plan update . . . makes no attempt to analyze the effects of those [greenhouse gas emission] increases on global warming or the greenhouse gas emissions reductions required by AB 32 . . .”. It will take several months before the trial court reaches any decision in the case.
In the short term, agencies and developers can expect lawsuits similar to those filed by the Center and the Attorney General. With no published case directly on point, the parties will seek to establish precedent that will shape California’s environmental future. In the long term, many agencies will be finding a way to address greenhouse gas emissions in their CEQA documents. For the foreseeable future, the legal battles over this issue will be hotly contested.
For further information, please contact the following attorneys:
Barbara J. Schussman barbara.schussman@bingham.com 925.975.5319
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