Description: Challenge to California Environmental Quality Act review for shipping terminal project at Port of Los Angeles.
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Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/22/2024 Opinion Download Trial court's judgment reversed and case remanded to trial court to exercise its discretion to remedy CEQA violations identified by the trial court as well as additional violations identified by appellate court. California Appellate Court Said Port of Los Angeles Failed to Support Decisions Not to Incorporate Certain Emissions Mitigation Measures. The California Court of Appeal found that the record did not support Port of Los Angeles respondents’ decisions regarding two potential emission mitigation measures for continued operations of a shipping container terminal. The trial court had determined that a 2019 supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including by failing to ensure that mitigation measures were enforceable, failing to adequately analyze the project’s emissions impacts, and improperly modifying or eliminating certain mitigation measures imposed in conjunction with a 2008 CEQA review. The appellate court found that the Port respondents also abused their discretion when they did not adopt as an enforceable mitigation measure a requirement that the terminal operator make annual contributions to a fund to pay for emissions reduction projects or to purchase offset credits. Instead, the respondents made the requirement a “mere lease measure.” The appellate court also found that substantial evidence did not support replacing a mitigation measure that required 100% compliance with a Vessel Speed Reduction Program with a requirement for 95% compliance. In addition, the appellate court agreed with the petitioners that the trial court’s remedy of setting aside the SEIR failed to redress the CEQA violations and allowed the terminal to continue operating illegally without enforceable mitigation measures in place. The appellate court directed the trial court to fashion a remedy to address the CEQA violations. The appellate court rejected petitioners’ contentions that the Port respondents also abused their discretion or acted unreasonably by failing to adopt other mitigation measures, including a demonstration project for zero- or near zero-emission cargo handling equipment, appointment of an independent monitor for mitigation measure compliance, and measures to address drayage truck emissions. -
South Coast Air Quality Management District v. City of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/04/2020 Motion to Intervene Download Motion to intervene filed by California Air Resources Board and People of the State of California ex rel. Attorney General Xavier Becerra. CARB and California Attorney General Sought to Join Lawsuit Challenging Port of Los Angeles Project. On November 4, 2020, the California Attorney General, on behalf of the People of the State of California, and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sought to intervene in the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (SCAQMD’s) proceeding challenging the environmental review for a terminal project at the Port of Los Angeles. SCAQMD charged that the City of Los Angeles and other defendants failed to implement and enforce mitigation measures in a 2008 environmental impact report (EIR) and then approved “unenforceable and inferior substitute measures” in a final supplemental EIR in 2020. SCAQMD alleged a number of failings in the supplemental EIR, including failure to take account of impacts of project changes on greenhouse gas emissions and to incorporate feasible measures to mitigate such emissions. 09/16/2020 Petition for Writ of Mandate Download Petition for writ of mandate filed.