Rominger v. County of Colusa

The California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s determination that a proposed subdivision approved by the County of Colusa was not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, but proceeded to uphold the environmental review supporting the mitigated negative declaration that the County had issued. (The only shortcoming identified by the appellate court related to potential traffic impacts at a single intersection.) With respect to climate change impacts, the County had concluded that the project would achieve a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below business-as-usual levels through compliance with regulatory measures. The court found that plaintiffs had not pointed to any evidence that suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the applicant and ultimate land users to comply with the regulatory measures, and that plaintiffs had not pointed to any other substantial evidence in the record that supported a fair argument of significant impact.