In environmental organizations’ appeal of a trial court decision rejecting most of their challenges to Lake County’s environmental review of the Guenoc Valley Mixed-Use Planned Development Project, the California Court of Appeal found that the County’s final environmental impact report (final EIR) for the project failed to provide “meaningful information” regarding the project’s “potential impact of exacerbating wildfire ignitions.” The court described the project as “a luxury resort consisting of residential estate villas, hotel units, and related infrastructure, on 16,000 acres in an unincorporated and largely undeveloped area.” The appellate court rejected the organizations’ other arguments, including a challenge to the inclusion of a carbon credit program to mitigate the project’s greenhouse gas emissions. The organizations—which had urged the County to “consider the use of a legally adequate carbon offset program”—argued that the program in the final EIR was ineffective, improperly deferred, and unenforceable. The appellate court found that the County did not rely on the credit program to eliminate the project’s impacts, noting that it had been explained that the program “would not avert the project’s significant and unavoidable impact from GHG emissions,” given the limited supply of carbon offsets and uncertainty regarding their availability throughout the life of the project. The court rejected the contention that the California Environmental Quality Act bars consideration of “potentially beneficial measures that agencies deem too uncertain to be feasible.” The appellate court also noted that the petitioners had not argued that the credit program would result in adverse impacts. The court therefore concluded that the addition of the program to the final EIR would not constitute prejudicial error.

Challenge to environmental review for the Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development Project.

People v. County of Lake

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California Appellate Court Rejected Challenge to Inclusion of Carbon Credit Program in EIR for Luxury Development in Undeveloped Area, Found Wildfire Risk Discussion Inadequate

Filed

United States of America

California

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California Appellate Court Rejected Challenge to Inclusion of Carbon Credit Program in EIR for Luxury Development in Undeveloped Area, Found Wildfire Risk Discussion Inadequate

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Renewable energy

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience