Landmark CEQA/Climate Change Settlement

On August 21, 2007, California’s Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a settlement of the recent controversial CEQA lawsuit his office brought against San Bernardino County, involving the extent to which the County’s EIR for its General Plan update should address impacts on climate change. The settlement is important because it requires a California agency for the first time to inventory historical (as of 1990), current, and projected greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions, to set a target for reducing GHG emissions, and to develop measures to reduce such emissions.

This contentious case has been closely watched by environmental groups and project proponents alike, for guidance as to how climate change should be addressed in CEQA documents. This issue has become the hottest topic in CEQA. Particularly since the passage of AB 32, environmental groups have aggressively asserted that CEQA requires both an analysis of a project’s impacts on climate change and the incorporation of mitigation