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

After the California Supreme Court ruled that CEQA findings regarding the significance of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the Newhall Ranch development in Los Angeles County were not supported by substantial evidence, the California Court of Appeal reiterated that conclusion in another case involving Newhall Ranch. In an unpublished opinion, the court cited the California Supreme Court’s opinion in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife, No. S217763 (2015), and noted that the parties agreed that the greenhouse gas emissions discussion in the instant case paralleled the discussion that the Supreme Court found lacking. The court therefore reversed the portions of a trial court’s ruling that upheld the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ conclusion that the development’s greenhouse gas emissions would not have a significant impact.

A California Court of Appeal upheld the environmental review and land use approvals for a portion of Newhall Ranch, a major commercial and residential development in Los Angeles County. In an unpublished opinion, the court approved the selection of a greenhouse gas emissions significance criterion that was based on the emissions reductions goal in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which required adoption of a statewide plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. The appellate court noted that three other appellate court cases had approved use of significance criteria based on this mandate. The court rejected the argument that this criterion was “illusory” and that the use of a “business-as-usual” emissions baseline was legally impermissible—but noted that the California Supreme Court wascurrently considering the baseline issue in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife, another case concerning the CEQA review for Newhall Ranch.