The First District Court of Appeal has approved an EIR analyzing a proposed fifty percent increase in density at the Parnassus campus of the University of California, San Francisco. Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium, LLC v. Regents of the University of California, 95 Cal.App.5th 779 (2023, petitions for review filed 10/30/2023).

In the five

A court of appeal has upheld Monterey County’s approvals for a desalination plant, rejecting challengers’ claims that uncertainty regarding the availability of source water for the plant necessitated additional CEQA review. Marina Coast Water District v. County of Monterey, 96 Cal.App.5th 46 (2023).

In 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission, acting as the CEQA

The Third District Court of Appeal has held that Sacramento County’s environmental impact report for a master planned community complied with CEQA’s requirements for analysis of greenhouse gas emissions. Tsakopoulos Investments, LLC v. County of Sacramento, 95 Cal.App.5th 280 (2023). Describing in detail the County’s analysis, the court held that substantial evidence –

In a lengthy opinion tackling several of CEQA’s hot topics, a court of appeal has rejected the EIR for the Martis Valley West project, finding its Lake Tahoe water quality analysis, GHG and traffic mitigation measures, and energy analysis inadequate. League to Save Lake Tahoe Mountain Area Preservation Foundation v. County of Placer, 75 Cal.App.5th

Petitioner could not avoid the deferential standard of review under the Planning and Zoning Law regarding an agency’s interpretation of its own general plan by framing the challenge as an “inconsistency” between the project and the general plan that required further analysis in the EIR pursuant to the CEQA Guidelines. Stop Syar Expansion v County

Several months ago, a court of appeal upheld a South Coast air district EIR for an oil refinery modernization project, concluding the district had discretion to use  “near-peak” emissions, rather than average emissions, as the baseline for calculating the air pollution expected from the project. Communities for a Better Environment v. South Coast Air Quality