Communities for a Better Environment v. South Coast Air Quality Management District

The California Court of Appeal rejected challenges to an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for an oil refinery project in the Los Angeles area. The petitioners had alleged that the EIR failed to disclose the increase in the amount of crude oil that would be refined at the facility and the full scope of impacts, including direct, indirect, and cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. The appellate court ruled for the respondents on all four issues raised by the petitioners on appeal, including whether a proper baseline was used in the EIR, whether the EIR should have disclosed input crude oil composition, and whether the EIR was required to disclose the existing volume of crude oil the refinery processes as a whole or the refinery’s unused capacity.