On May 8, 2012, the California Attorney General’s office released a report entitled “Environmental Justice at the Local and Regional Level – Legal Background” (Report) which interprets existing law to impose environmental justice obligations that local governments must consider when...
Governor Brown’s office has proposed new legislation that would modify the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to limit the circumstances under which a court could issue an injunction or other stop work order on the California High Speed Rail (HSR)...
Upon reaching a large milestone in improving air quality, the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (District) prepared and recently released the 2011 Snapshot Report. The Report announces the District’s recent achievement of attaining the Federal 1-hour Ozone Standard, but...
On May 23, 2012, the California Supreme Court unanimously agreed to grant review of Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 656. The issue before the court will be whether the City of Berkeley must prepare an...
On April 23, 2012, the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Assembly Bill No. 900 (2011-2012 Reg. Sess.) (see Conservation League v. State of California, RG12626904 (Alameda Sup. Ct.) available at http://www.cnsenvironmentallaw.com/2012/04/26/Conservation.pdf.) AB 900...
May 3, 2012, Sacramento. Our very own Tina Thomas was honored by Cottage Housing at its 3rd Annual Beacon of Hope celebration. For more than 30 years, Tina has served as a tenacious pro bono advocate for a wide array...
In Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene (Case no. CV-F-09-2234), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District granted summary judgment in favor of a group of farming and oil-industry plaintiffs, finding that the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) regulations...
On April 19, 2012, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the Metropolitan Planning Organization responsible for developing the state and federally required Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) for the 22 cities and six counties in the greater Sacramento region, adopted...
In Tomlinson v. County of Alameda (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 1406, the petitioners challenged the County’s determination that the infill exemption set forth in the CEQA Guidelines (Section 15332) applied to a development project located within the County and not within...
On March 6, 2012, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article entitled “Costly, lengthy appeals part of S.F.’s culture.” (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/06/MNB21N1TA9.DTL.) The article highlights how San Francisco’s environmental appeal process and environmental litigation are often used to stall and kill projects...
On January 25, 2012, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released draft CEQA Guidelines to implement Senate Bill (SB) 226. Signed by the Governor last October, SB 226 promotes infill development by: (1) providing flexibility in project design...
On February 14, 2012, the City of Sacramento will hold a hearing to consider approving the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). (http://www.sacgp.org/cap.html.) The CAP is split into two phases. Phase 1, which was adopted in February 2010, addresses GHG emissions...