CEQA Update: Court of Appeal Concludes That the Environment's Effect on a Project Need Not Be Analyzed Under CEQA

Chelsea Maclean is an Associate in our San Francisco office

In one of the most notable decisions of 2011, the Second District Court of Appeal recently held in Ballona Wetlands Land Trust et al. v. City of Los Angeles¹ that the environment's effects on a proposed project do not have to be analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The potential implications should not be underestimated as a wide range of impacts previously analyzed in CEQA documents may now be considered outside CEQA's statutory authority.

Background

The CEQA document at issue was an environmental impact report (EIR) for a second phase of a mixed-use development project that was revised as a consequence of prior litigation setting aside an earlier EIR certified in 2004. The petitioners, Ballona Wetlands Land Trust and Ballona Ecosystem Education Project (BEEP), challenged the revised EIR's analysis of archaeological resources and sea level rise resulting from global climate