Monthly Archives: December 2012

Fish & Game Commission’s Decision To Deny Petition To Remove Coho Salmon From The State Endangered Species List Upheld

By Marc Bruner on December 20th, 2012 Posted in Endangered Species

The California Endangered Species Act allows interested parties to file a petition with the California Fish & Game Commission to list or delist a species as threatened or endangered. If the Commission accepts the petition, it then decides whether to take the action requested in the petition, based on a scientific report on the species… Continue Reading

CEQA Doesn’t Apply to Declaration of Water Emergency Authorized by Judgment Governing Groundwater Basin

By Geoffrey Robinson on December 19th, 2012 Posted in CEQA, Water Supply

A water replenishment district’s declaration of a water emergency was not subject to CEQA because the declaration itself had no environmental impact, it was authorized under the terms of a judgment imposing a physical solution on the groundwater basin, and the district had no discretion to alter the terms of the judgment which specify the consequences… Continue Reading

EIR’s Project Description For Municipal Park Properly Excluded Proposed Development On Adjacent Property Claimed to Be a Related Project

By Marc Bruner on December 17th, 2012 Posted in CEQA

In rejecting the claim that the City of Newport Beach improperly “piecemealed” its environmental review of a municipal park project, the court upheld the city’s decision to exclude from the EIR’s project description a pending proposal to build residential and commercial uses on an adjacent property. The court based its ruling on the principle that… Continue Reading

An Attorney Petitioner in a CEQA Suit Can Be Awarded Attorneys’ Fees

By Julie Jones on December 14th, 2012 Posted in CEQA

In a case of first impression, a court of appeal has held that an attorney can be a named petitioner in a CEQA case, litigate the case on behalf of all of the petitioners, and then, if the litigation succeeds, obtain an award of attorneys’ fees from the defendants for her work. Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Rules Temporary Flooding May Give Rise To Takings Claim

By Marc Bruner on December 5th, 2012 Posted in Land Use

In an important constitutional decision, the Supreme Court made clear there is no “blanket” rule prohibiting a takings cause of action for government-induced flooding that is only temporary. The Court therefore reversed the Federal Circuit, which had decided such flooding must be “permanent or inevitably recurring” to give rise to a viable takings claim. Arkansas… Continue Reading