Cal.Sup.Ct.;
S223603

The California Supreme Court affirmed in part a judgment. The court held that the environmental impact report (EIR) for a regional transportation plan was not required to include an analysis of the plan's consistency with the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals reflected in a 2005 executive order in order to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

A 2005 executive order declared a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in California to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. In 2011, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) certified an EIR for its 2050 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy. The EIR acknowledged the transportation plan's implementation would lead to an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions levels; however, the EIR did not analyze whether this consequence conflicted with the executive order, or would impair or impede the achievement of the executive order's goals. Cleveland National Forest Foundation and others filed petitions for writ of mandate challenging the EIR's adequacy under CEQA. The trial court granted the petitions in part, finding the EIR failed to carry out its role as an informational document because it did not analyze the inconsistency between the state's policy goals, as reflected in the executive order, and the transportation plan's greenhouse gas emissions impacts after 2020. The court also found the EIR failed to adequately address mitigation measures for the transportation plan's greenhouse gas emissions impacts. Given these findings, the court declined to decide any of the other challenges raised in the petitions. SANDAG appealed, and the petitioners cross-appealed.