Calif. High Court: U.S. Rail Law Doesn't Categorically Pre-Empt CEQA On Public Entity Projects

HIGHLIGHTS:

• In Friends of the Eel River v. N. Coast R.R. Auth., __ Cal.5th __, No. S222472, 2017 WL 3185220 (Cal. July 27, 2017), the Supreme Court of California held that federal law does not categorically pre-empt the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) from applying to railroad projects owned by state or local government entities.
• Project proponents who operate in areas in which CEQA is generally pre-empted should conduct a careful review of the government's ownership interest in their projects to determine if CEQA nonetheless applies.
• The decision acknowledged that challengers may not be able to make use of all of CEQA's remedies to challenge railroad projects. The decision may also set up a showdown before the U.S. Supreme Court about whether federal law trumps California's environmental statutes.