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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…

The court of appeal in San Francisco has upheld the Climate Change Scoping Plan adopted by the Air Resources Board in December 2008.  In its June 19th decision in Association of Irritated Residents v. California Air Resources Board, the court rejected claims by environmental groups that the Plan violated the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, commonly known as AB 32.

AB 32 requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  To that end, AB 32 directs the Air Board, the agency responsible for implementing the law, to establish a statewide GHG emissions limit for 2020 and adopt a “scoping plan” that identifies ways to reduce emissions from stationary and mobile sources in order to meet that limit.

The Scoping Plan.

After more than 250 public workshops and 350 community meetings, as well as input from various specialized committees, the Air Board approved a Scoping Plan outlining the following key strategies for reducing GHG emissions in California:

  • Expand and strengthen existing energy efficiency programs and building and appliance standards;
  • Achieve a statewide renewables energy mix of 33 percent;
  • Develop a California cap-and-trade program that links with similar programs in otherU.S.states and Canadian provinces as part of the Western Climate Initiative in order to create a regional market-based emissions trading system;
  • Establish targets for transportation-related GHG emissions in the state and pursue policies and incentives to achieve those targets;
  • Adopt and implement emissions-reduction measures under existing California laws and policies, such asCalifornia’s Clean Cars standards and Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
  • Create targeted fee programs, such as a public goods charge on water usage that can be used to fund water efficiency programs and improvements and fees to fund the administrative costs of implementing AB 32.


Continue Reading California Court of Appeal Upholds Statewide Climate Change Scoping Plan

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the transportation planning agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, and the Association of Bay Area Governments have announced that they are going to prepare an Environmental Impact Report to evaluate the agencies’ proposed plan to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light duty trucks.  On June　11, the agencies issued a notice of preparation under the California Environmental Quality Act seeking comments on the scope and content of the EIR for the proposed plan, which was developed in partnership with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.  Comments on the notice of preparation are due by July 11, 2012.

The proposed plan, entitled “Plan Bay Area,” calls for housing and job growth around high-quality transit corridors, especially within areas identified by local jurisdictions as Priority Development Areas.  The plan strives to attain per-capita GHG emissions reductions from cars and trucks of 7 percent by the year 2020 and 15 percent by the 2035, as compared with 2005 emissions levels.

The plan implements Senate Bill 375, which seeks to integrate regional land use and transportation planning to help lower the number of vehicle miles traveled through the adoption of a Sustainable Communities Strategy.  SB 375 provides streamlined procedures under CEQA for qualifying residential, mixed-use and transit-oriented projects that are consistent with an approved SCS.  The proposed plan would be the Bay Area’s first Sustainable Communities Strategy and would seek to take advantage of the CEQA incentives offered by SB 375, with the hope that local approvals of future qualifying development projects that implement the plan will face fewer hurdles and delays.

Continue Reading Plan Bay Area: The Regional Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions – The EIR is Underway

Provisions of Appendix G of the CEQA Guidelines that purport to require analysis of the effects of environmental hazards on a proposed project have been declared invalid by California’s Second District Court of Appeal.  The court held that such impacts are not encompassed by CEQA, rejecting a claim that an Environmental Impact Report was required…