San Francisco Baykeeper and Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court asking the court to set aside the City of Newark’s certification of a final environmental impact report (FEIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the Mowry Village Project, as well as related approvals for the residential development, which would include 203 single-family detached homes. The alleged shortcomings in the environmental review included a failure to adequately analyze the issue of “coastal squeeze,” which the FEIR defined as “the loss of natural habitats or deterioration of their quality arising from placement of structures along the shoreline, preventing landward transgression of those habitats that would naturally occur in response to sea level rise.” The petitioners alleged that the FEIR failed to respond to scientific papers submitted in public comments “that emphasize coastal squeeze’s threat to natural habitats from the prevalence of coastal infrastructure such as the Project’s coastal armoring and associated flood control infrastructure,” and also failed to address the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s comments regarding how the Project would exacerbate coastal squeeze. Another issue identified by the petitioners was an alleged failure to describe and analyze components of the project that would provide protection against sea level rise; the petition alleged that those components “have significant implications for how sea level rise effects could be managed or exacerbated by the Project, and themselves have potentially significant effects not analyzed by the EIR.” In addition, the petitioners alleged that the FEIR did not address the risk of groundwater rise mobilizing hazardous materials.

Challenge to the environmental review for a residential project in the City of Newark, California.

San Francisco Baykeeper v. City of Newark

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Petitioners Raised Sea Level Rise Concerns in CEQA Challenge to Residential Development in Newark

Filed

United States of America

California

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Petitioners Raised Sea Level Rise Concerns in CEQA Challenge to Residential Development in Newark

Policy instrument

Risk

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance