On March 11, 2015, the California Supreme Court granted the San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG) petition for review of the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. San Diego Association of Governments (Case No. S223603). As reflected on the Supreme Court’s docket, the Order granting review limited the issues to be briefed and argued to the following: “Must the environmental impact report for a regional transportation plan include an analysis of the plan’s consistency with the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals reflected in Executive Order No. 5-3-05 to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act…?” All seven justices voted to review this issue.
SANDAG’s press release can be found here. For my prior blog post analyzing the Court of Appeal’s decision (and concluding it was a strong candidate for Supreme Court review), see “Analysis of GHGs Under CEQA Just Got More Complex: Fourth District’s Split Decision Invalidates Program EIR for SANDAG’s 2050 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy” by Arthur F. Coon, posted on December 1, 2014.