Tag Archives: CEQA

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development

2018 Year in Review: Public agencies prevailed in 65% of CEQA cases analyzed. By James L. Arnone, Marc T. Campopiano, Christopher W. Garrett, and Lucinda Starrett Over the course of 2018, Latham & Watkins lawyers reviewed all 57 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases, both published and unpublished, that came before California appellate courts. These … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Agrees Two Activities Constitute One CEQA Project

By Latham & Watkins on January 16, 2019 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental Litigation, Environmental Regulation, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[I] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel Brunton, James Erselius, and Derek Galey In a published decision issued June 12, 2018, County of Ventura v. City of Moorpark, Case No. B282466, the California Court of Appeal rejected part of the County of Ventura and the City of Fillmore’s … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Review for EIRs and Requirements for Air Quality Impact Analyses

By Latham & Watkins on January 8, 2019 Posted in California, CEQA

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[I] By Marc T. Campopiano, Christopher W. Garrett, Nathaniel L. Glynn, and Natalie C. Rogers In a published opinion issued December 24, 2018, Sierra Club v. County of Fresno, Case No. S219783, the California Supreme Court determined that an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared and certified by … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court: Which Conflicting Limitations Period Applies to CEQA Claim

By Latham & Watkins on December 20, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental Litigation

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher H. Norton, Lucas I. Quass and Megan K. Ampe In a published opinion issued on October 23, 2018, Save Lafayette Trees v. City of Lafayette, Case No. A154168, the California Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s decision to grant a demurrer without leave … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Dismisses Time-Barred Challenge to Development Phase

By Latham & Watkins on December 10, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Environmental Litigation, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, James A. Erselius, and Christopher Adam Martinez In an unpublished opinion issued October 22, 2018, Tennis Club Preservation Society v. City of Palm Springs, Case No. E068896, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision dismissing the … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court Determines Threshold and Scope for EIR Requirement

By Latham & Watkins on December 7, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Environmental Regulation, Finance and project development, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, James A. Erselius, and Robert C. Hull In an unpublished opinion issued May 31, 2018, Save Adelaida v. County of San Luis Obispo, Case No. B279285, the California Court of Appeal partially affirmed the trial court’s decision and held … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Rejects City’s MND in Historic District Due to Aesthetic and Traffic Impacts

By Latham & Watkins on August 30, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental Litigation

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[I] By Winston P. Stromberg, Lucas Quass and Christopher Adam Martinez In an opinion published on August 9, 2018, Protect Niles v. City of Fremont, Case No. A151645, the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s issuance of a writ of … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court: Statewide Emissions Goals May Inform Mitigation Measures

By Latham & Watkins on July 17, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental Litigation

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, Diego Enrique Flores, and Samantha K. Seikkula In an unpublished opinion issued May 18, 2018, Responsible Development for Water Tank Hill v. County of San Mateo, Case No. A150883, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court Dismisses As Moot Litigant’s Challenge to Planned Development Approval

By Latham & Watkins on July 17, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Environmental Litigation

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, James A. Erselius, John D. Niemeyer, and Samantha K. Seikkula In an unpublished opinion issued February 20, 2018, Advocates for Better Cmty. Dev. v. City of Palm Springs, Case No. E066193, the California Court of Appeal dismissed as moot … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Upholds CEQA Exemption for Wireless Communications Facility

By Latham & Watkins on June 20, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals

By Daniel P. Brunton, Lucas I. Quass, and Stephanie L. Postal CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development [i] In a published opinion issued March 15, 2018, Don’t Cell Our Parks v. City of San Diego, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment and upheld the City of San Diego’s … Continue Reading

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development

By Latham & Watkins on June 14, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals

By James Arnone, Lucinda Starrett, Marc Campopiano, and Christopher Garrett California higher courts rule in favor of public agencies on small majority of environmental impact report cases. Over the course of 2017, Latham lawyers reviewed all 46 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases, both published and unpublished, that came before California appellate courts. These cases … Continue Reading

Dismissal of Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Case Appealed Amidst Program Extension

By Latham & Watkins on April 3, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

Appeal in POET II could complicate California Air Resources Board’s proposed LCFS amendments. Joshua T. Bledsoe, Kimberly D. Farbota In the case commonly referred to as POET II, petitioner POET, LLC, a biofuels manufacturer, challenged the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Alternative Diesel Fuels (ADF) regulations which the California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted … Continue Reading

CEQA Developments: How New Proposed Regulations and Streamlined Legislation Will Impact California Projects

By Latham & Watkins on March 1, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development

Webcast addresses recent developments involving the California Environment Quality Act. By Marc Campopiano, Chris Garrett, and Winston Stromberg The Project Siting & Approvals Practice hosted a 60-minute webcast on February 21, “CEQA Developments: How New Proposed Regulations and Streamlined Legislation Will Impact California Projects.” Speakers provided an overview of the proposed updates to the California … Continue Reading

California Air Resources Board Clarifies 2018 LCFS Targets and POET II Case Approaches Major Milestone

By Latham & Watkins on December 21, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Joshua Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota Recent guidance published by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) clarifies the treatment of diesel fuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in light of the Court of Appeals’ May 30, 2017 decision in POET I. Meanwhile, in POET II, ARB recently filed a Motion for Judgment on … Continue Reading

California’s Supreme Court Denies ARB Petition To Review LCFS Case

By Latham & Watkins on August 29, 2017 Posted in Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota In a previous post, we described how potential delays in the resolution of the case commonly known as POET I could create uncertainty regarding the future of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). On August 23, 2017, the Supreme Court of California issued an order: (1) denying California … Continue Reading

Uncertainty Looms with Delays to Resolution of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program Challenges

By Latham & Watkins on July 24, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota Two recent developments in the interrelated legal challenges commonly known as POET I and POET II may create additional uncertainty for the future of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program (LCFS). Earlier this year, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District (Court of Appeal) issued two … Continue Reading

Court Reissues LCFS Opinion Per ARB Petition For Reconsideration

By Latham & Watkins on June 8, 2017 Posted in Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman As discussed in a previous post, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District (Court of Appeal) ruled on April 10, 2017 that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) had failed to properly follow a writ of peremptory mandate (the Writ) requiring ARB to remedy violations … Continue Reading

California Court Rules Against Air Resources Board over LCFS but Preserves 2017 Status Quo

By Latham & Watkins on April 13, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman In two recent posts, we discussed how California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) had been thrown into a state of potential upheaval by two interrelated legal challenges commonly known as POET I and POET II, including a recent oral argument before the California Court of Appeal for the … Continue Reading

California State Court Poised to Destabilize Low Carbon Fuel Standard

By Latham & Watkins on March 28, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman Big changes appear to be imminent for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). As discussed in greater detail in our recent post, the LCFS currently is the subject of two interrelated legal challenges commonly known as POET I and POET II. Here we provide an update on recent proceedings before … Continue Reading

Twin Challenges to LCFS Advance in California Courts, With Potential Implications for State’s Overall Climate Stabilization Strategy

By Latham & Watkins on March 2, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman Two related cases, advancing in parallel, have the potential to upend California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), whether via full suspension of the LCFS or carving out diesel fuels from the deficit and crediting regime.[1] Both cases involve challenges by POET, LLC (POET), a South Dakota-based ethanol producer, … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Addresses Subsequent Review Under CEQA; Rejects Lishman “New Project” Test

By Latham & Watkins on September 21, 2016 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development

By Christopher W. Garrett, David Amerikaner, Lucas I. Quass and Samantha Seikkula In an opinion by Justice Kruger, the Supreme Court of California unanimously reversed the Court of Appeal in Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo County Community College District, Cal. Supreme Court, Case No. S214061 (September 19, 2016). The Court … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Partially Upholds Air Quality Thresholds of Significance Following State Supreme Court Decision

By Latham & Watkins on August 26, 2016 Posted in Environmental and approvals

By Marc Campopiano, Lucas I. Quass and Samantha Seikkula In a published decision, following the Supreme Court’s decision in California Building Industry Association v. Bay Area Air Quality Management District (2015) 62 Cal.4th 369, the First District Court of Appeal upheld California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) thresholds of significance adopted by the Bay Area Air … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo County (Case No. S214061)

By Latham & Watkins on May 11, 2016 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development

By Christopher Garrett, Daniel Brunton and Shannon Lankenau On May 4, 2016, the California Supreme Court heard oral argument in Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo County Community College District (Case No. S214061), which addresses the standard of review that applies when a lead agency decides that changes or additions … Continue Reading

California Governor’s Office Releases Updated CEQA Guidelines Proposal on SB 743 Implementation

By Latham & Watkins on January 26, 2016 Posted in Environmental and approvals

By Chris Garrett and Ana De Santiago Ayon On January 20, 2016, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released a new draft proposal for implementing Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg 2013) (SB 743), which would require traffic analysis to be based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) instead of auto delay, commonly measured by Level … Continue Reading