Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Transportation

A California trial court dismissed environmental organizations’ California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits challenging the California Department of Transportation’s environmental review of the Yolo 80 Corridor Improvements Project. The project adds a lane of traffic to segments of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 50. The court rejected all of the petitioners’ arguments, including that the CEQA review was improperly “piecemealed,” that the project was inconsistent with the regional transportation plan, and that the CEQA review overestimated the project’s benefits such as congestion relief and underestimated impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions.

Three organizations filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court challenging the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review for the Yolo 80 Corridor Improvement Projects, which would widen Interstate 80 and United States Route 50 through a 20,8-mile-long corridor in Solano, Yolo, and Sacramento counties. The organizations alleged that the California Department of Transportation failed to adequately analyze, disclose, and mitigate the impacts of the project, which they alleged would “impede the state’s climate objectives, worsen air pollution in vulnerable communities, and degrade valuable habitats.”