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
December 2012
CEQA Doesn’t Apply to Declaration of Water Emergency Authorized by Judgment Governing Groundwater Basin
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…
EIR’s Project Description For Municipal Park Properly Excluded Proposed Development On Adjacent Property Claimed to Be a Related Project
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…
An Attorney Petitioner in a CEQA Suit Can Be Awarded Attorneys’ Fees
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 …
Supreme Court Rules Temporary Flooding May Give Rise To Takings Claim
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 …