Sierra Club v. Port of Stockton

Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity reached a settlement agreement with the Port of Stockton and its Board of Port Commissioners (together, the Port) and the developer of a proposed hydrogen production and dispensing facility that the Port approved in August 2024. The Port agreed to rescind project approvals, to decertify the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project, and to prepare an environmental impact report pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act prior to any continuation or initiation of the project or of any project proposed by the developer that would propose producing or dispensing hydrogen derived from methane on Port of Stockton property.

Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court challenging the Port of Stockton’s compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act in connection with approval of the BayoTech Hydrogen Production and Dispensing Facility Project, which would use methane as the feedstock to produce hydrogen. The organizations asserted that an environmental impact report should have been prepared to evaluate the project’s impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions. They alleged that the analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts in the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) was inadequate and that the IS/MND failed to adequately analyze the project’s consistency with California’s climate, clean energy, and greenhouse gas reduction goals and mandates. In addition, the organizations asserted that the Port failed to adopt sufficient mitigation measures to address impacts, failed to provide an opportunity to comment on the mitigation monitoring and reporting program, failed to provide an adequate description of the project and its environmental setting, failed to analyze consistency with local land use plans, including the Stockton General Plan, Community Emissions Reduction Program, and Stockton Climate Action Plan, and failed to make adequate findings.