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In Tomlinson v. County of Alameda (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 1406, the petitioners challenged the County’s determination that the infill exemption set forth in the CEQA Guidelines (Section 15332) applied to a development project located within the County and not within a city. The County argued the petitioners failed to exhaust their administrative remedies on this…

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the lower courts’ ruling and held that Michael and Chantell Sackett, Petitioners, may bring a civil action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of an administrative compliance order for alleged violation of Section 309 of the Clean Water…

On March 9, 2012, the Fifth Appellate District ordered a portion of its decision in Consol. Irrigation Dist. v. City of Selma (2012) __ Cal.App.4th __ (2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 277) published. Specifically, the Court ordered all but Sections I.A., III., IV.C., IV.D., V., and VI. of DISCUSSION published. The portions of the opinion ordered…

On March 6, 2012, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article entitled “Costly, lengthy appeals part of S.F.’s culture.” (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/06/MNB21N1TA9.DTL.)  The article highlights how San Francisco’s environmental appeal process and environmental litigation are often used to stall and kill projects within San Francisco.  The article noted that in 2011, eleven CEQA lawsuits were…

In Building a Better Redondo v. City of Redondo Beach (February 22, 2012) __ Cal.App.4th __ (Case No. 124769), a group of slow-growth advocates brought a petition for writ of mandate and declaratory relief against the City of Redondo Beach, seeking an order compelling the city to submit a local coastal program amendment to public…

TRPA adopted amendments to the shorezone regulations in 2008, setting development caps on the number of new buoys and piers allowed in Lake Tahoe, and certified an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the amendments. The League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Club (Plaintiffs) challenged filed a lawsuit, alleging that the EIS failed to explain…

In Save the Peaks Coalition v. United States Forest Service (9th Cir. 2012) 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 2563, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that, although Save the Peaks Coalition (“SPC”) abused the judicial process by holding back claims that should have been asserted in an earlier litigation, laches did not bar SPC from…

In an unpublished decision, Landwatch San Luis Obispo v. Cambria Community Serv. Dist., 2d Civil No. B229545 (2012), the Court upheld a trial court’s cost award of $14,615.41 to the Cambria Community Service District for time spent preparing the administrative record.  The District initially sought almost $24,000.  In reaching the amount awarded, the trial…

In Turtle Island Restoration Network v. U.S. Dept. of States (9th Cir. 2012) 2012 U.S.LEXIS 3263, the Ninth Circuit Court determined that res judicata barred Turtle Island Restoration Network (“TIRN”) from bringing a challenge under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) because an organization for which TIRN was formally a…

In Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley (2012) 203 Cal. App. 4th 656, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board (Board) determined that a new roughly 10,000 square foot home in the Berkeley hills was categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to (1) the Infill Development Exemption and (2) the New Construction / Conversion of a Small…