Use, Not Risk: California Supreme Court Clarifies CEQA’s Class 1 Exemption

Sunflower Alliance v. Department of Conservation et al., Reabold California, LLC, Real Party in Interest and Appellant, was decided by the California Supreme Court on June 25, 2026. The Court held that “negligible or no expansion of existing or former use” in the California Environmental Quality Act’s Class 1 categorical exemption refers to the nature or degree of a change in use, not to the environmental risk created by that change. It reversed the First District Court of Appeal and remanded for reconsideration under the correct standard.

Background

The Proposed Conversion and Agency Approval

Reabold proposed to reopen the Ginochio Well in the Brentwood Oil Field. The well was constructed in 1963, used for oil and gas extraction until 1984, and later plugged. Reabold sought approval from the California Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, to convert it into a water injection well for treated wastewater from nearby oil operations.