Center for Biological Diversity v. City of Los Angeles

Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), alleging that the environmental impact report (EIR) they prepared in connection with the Scattergood Generating Station Units 1 and 2 Green Hydrogen-Ready Modernization Project was “flawed and unlawful.” CBD alleged that rather than replacing the existing fossil fuel-fired facility with renewable energy capacity after the current facility is required to close in 2029, LADWP instead chose to build a new fossil fuel-fired facility. The petition described the plan for the new facility to be partially fueled by hydrogen as a “chimera” that the EIR did not analyze. Other alleged shortcomings in the EIR included failure to adequately analyze cumulative impacts of related modernization projects at other electric generation facilities; improper dismissal of energy storage and demand management alternatives; and failure to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions from the project.