East Oakland Stadium Alliance v. City of Oakland

The California Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s rulings on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) claims challenging the City of Oakland’s review of a proposed project that included a new 35,000-seat ballpark for the City’s Major League Baseball team. The court rejected a contention that the environmental impact report (EIR) improperly deferred mitigation of the project’s greenhouse gas emissions. The court noted that a state law required Oakland to incorporate emission reduction measures in the project and prohibited the project from causing “any net additional emissions of greenhouse gases.” The appellate court found that the single mitigation measure adopted in the EIR—a prohibition on any construction-related permit for the project unless the project sponsor developed a plan to reduce or offset emissions so that resulting emissions were below the “no net additional” threshold—satisfied CEQA guidelines requirements. In particular, the court found that the City committed to the mitigation, adopted a specific performance standard to be achieved, and identified potential actions to feasibly achieve the performance standard.