We Advocate Through Environmental Review v. County of Siskiyou

The California Court of Appeal held that the County of Siskiyou did not properly evaluate the climate change impacts of a facility that extracted groundwater to produce bottled water. The appellate court found that the County should have allowed an additional opportunity for the public to comment after it disclosed that the project would result in nearly double the greenhouse gas emissions that were disclosed before the initial public comment period. The appellate court also found that the stated project objectives were “unreasonably narrow” but rejected other arguments challenging the California Environmental Quality Act review, including arguments that the County potentially understated the project’s greenhouse gas emissions and that greenhouse gas mitigation measures were not enforceable.