Description: Challenge to environmental review for development project permits on grounds that it did not take into account impacts of climate change.
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Natural Resources Defense Council v. Reclamation Board of the Resources Agency of the State of California
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/27/2007 Not Available Download Tentative ruling issued. A California Superior Court ruled that the State Reclamation Board's approval of fill permits for part of a large development project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta did not violate the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). One argument advanced by the petitioners and rejected by the court was that supplemental environmental review was required to account for new information regarding the impact of climate change on the region in which the project was located. The court said that the allegedly new information on climate change and its impacts was "not really 'new information'" for CEQA purposes. The court also said that the petitioners had not presented "any real new information" regarding specific effects in the project area. The court noted: "This ruling is a narrow one, and is not a ruling that the effects of potential changes in climate are not a proper subject for consideration under CEQA. Petitioners have made a persuasive showing that there is a growing consensus on the issue that has caused state environmental agencies to give it closer attention. As the projected effects of climate change become clearer and can be related to specific sites, there is little doubt that those effects will have to be factored into the analysis of many projects under CEQA."