Friends of the Santa Clara River v. County of Los Angeles

The California Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the environmental review and land use approvals for a portion of Newhall Ranch, a major commercial and residential development in Los Angeles County. The court deferred briefing until after it renders a decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish & Wildlife, another case concerning Newhall Ranch in which the court is taking up the question of whether an agency conducting a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review may deviate from the 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. In the instant case, the California Court of Appeal upheld Los Angeles County’s use of the business-as-usual baseline as well as other aspects of the environmental impact report and approvals in April 2015.