The court of appeal opinion issued today in Concerned Dublin Citizens clearly answers three CEQA questions which haven’t been directly addressed in other published opinions: the proper interpretation of the statutory exemption for housing projects that are consistent with a specific plan; how the CEQA guideline on further review following a program EIR should be
March 2013
NPDES Permit Not Required for Stormwater Discharges from Logging Roads, Supreme Court Rules
Do the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations require permits before stormwater runoff from logging roads can be discharged into the navigable waters of the United States? No, said the Supreme Court in its March 20th decision, reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown. The high court reaffirmed …
Supreme Court Agrees To Review Ninth Circuit NEPA Decision
On March 18, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the case of United States Forest Service v. Pacific Rivers Council, in which the Ninth Circuit overturned an Environmental Impact Statement for a 2004 amendment to a programmatic framework governing a series of logging plans for national forest lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.…
Use it or Lose it? Not in the Case of an Easement Acquired by Deed.
A trial court did not have authority to extinguish portions of a road and utility easement notwithstanding its determination that the easement holder did not need the entire easement and that a smaller easement would constitute the least burden on the property subject to the easement. Cottonwood Duplexes, LLC v. Barlow, 210 Cal. App. …
Federal Agency May Adopt Project that Combines Elements from Several Alternatives Studied in an Environmental Impact Statement
In approving a project to repair a flood-damaged road in a national forest in Nevada, the U.S. Forest Service adopted a “Selected Alternative” that combined elements from three different alternatives that were evaluated in the Environmental Impact Statement for the project. In upholding the Forest Service’s approval, the Ninth Circuit rejected the project opponents’ claims …
Definition of “Agency Action” under the Endangered Species Act to be Reheard by Ninth Circuit
In July 2012, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Salazar, 686 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2012), that the decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to renew a series of water service contracts in connection with the Central Valley Project did not constitute “agency action”…
New Opinion, Same Result – Project Objectives Are Upheld Under CEQA, But Alternatives Analysis Is Invalid
In 2008, the City of Santa Cruz and the University of California settled litigation challenging the University’s long-term development plan for expanding the UC Santa Cruz campus. A key provision of the settlement agreement required the city to seek approvals from the Local Agency Formation Commission for providing water and sewer service to the part…
California Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Under California Endangered Species Act
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 by the California…
CEQ Issues Handbooks on Coordinating NEPA Review with Review Under CEQA and Review Under the Historic Preservation Act
On March 5, 2013, the Council on Environmental Quality released a handbook intended to help agencies and practitioners coordinate environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act with overlapping review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act. It also released a separate handbook on coordination of review under NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act.…