Sierra Club v. City of Glendale

A California Superior Court issued a tentative ruling denying a petition seeking the withdrawal of City of Glendale approvals for installation of five new natural gas-fired engines at a power plant. The court rejected the petitioner’s assertion that the environmental impact report (EIR) misstated the municipal utility’s need to maintain a reserve for contingencies when the two largest sources of electricity were lost, which was cited as a justification for the project. In addition, the court found that the utility presented substantial evidence that it did not conceal any intention to sell excess energy. The court found that the use of hydrogen technology at the plant was too speculative to require an analysis of environmental effects and that the utility sufficiently analyzed environmental impacts in the City of Glendale and the surrounding region (rejecting a contention that the EIRs did not analyze the environmental effects on environmental justice communities located outside the City’s boundaries).

Sierra Club filed a California Environmental Quality Act challenge to the City of Glendale’s approval of a project to repower a power plant with five new natural gas-fired engines. Sierra Club alleged that the project description “paints an inaccurate and incomplete picture of the Project that dramatically inflates Glendale’s energy needs,” which provided a basis for the arbitrary rejection of viable alternatives that could accelerate the City’s transition from fossil fuels. Sierra Club also alleged that the environmental impact report overlooked the projects’ impacts on environmental justice communities.