Climate Plan Enjoined? Trial Court Issues Proposed Decision Regarding Implementation of AB 32 Scoping Plan

In a potentially far-reaching move, a San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled that the California Air Resources Board failed to conduct an adequate environmental impact review before it adopted the State's AB 32 Scoping Plan in December 2008. This plan sets forth the Board's basic outline of actions to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions. The court issued a proposed order which would enjoin "any implementation of the Scoping Plan" until the Board complies with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The lawsuit was filed by a number of environmental justice groups challenging the Scoping Plan as failing to comply with the substantive mandates of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, and the impact review and procedural requirements of CEQA. The court issued a proposed decision on January 21 in which it rejected all of the substantive legal challenges to the Scoping Plan under AB 32, holding that the Board did not act arbitrarily and