Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The California Supreme Court denied a petition for rehearing in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife, in which the court ruled that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review for a 12,000-acre development had not supported the conclusion that the development’s greenhouse gas emissions would not have significant impacts. The court also made a non-material alteration to its November 2015 opinion.

The California Supreme Court ruled that consistency with statewide emission reduction goals was a permissible criterion for determining the significance of a project’s greenhouse gas emissions in a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, but found that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife had not supported its conclusion that a 12,000-acre development’s greenhouse gas emissions would not have significant impacts. The court, reversing a decision by the Court of Appeal upholding the agency’s review, also ruled against the agency on other aspects of its CEQA review. The court remanded to the Court of Appeal for a determination of the parameters of a writ of mandate to be issued. One justice dissented as to the conclusion that the agency had not supported its determination that there would not be significant greenhouse gas emissions impacts, while another justice dissented from the entire opinion.

The California Supreme Court granted a petition to review a decision upholding the environmental review for a 12,000-acre commercial-residential development known as Newhall Ranch in northwestern Los Angeles County. One of the three issues the court will consider is whether an agency may “deviate from [the California Environmental Quality Act’s] existing conditions baseline and instead determine the significance of a project’s greenhouse gas emissions by reference to a hypothetical higher ‘business as usual’ baseline.”