On August 12, 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission issued a proposed decision setting average and maximum targets and timelines for the large electric investor-owned utilities to connect new customers or upgrade...more
The California Supreme Court, on June 6, 2024, reversed the First District Court of Appeal’s decision regarding UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) EIR. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision clears the way for...more
7/26/2024
/ CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
CEQA ,
Colleges ,
Construction Project ,
Educational Institutions ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Excessive Noise ,
Housing Developers ,
Mootness ,
Student Housing ,
Universities
The California Energy Commission (CEC), on January 19, 2023, released the long-awaited Draft AB 525 Offshore Wind Strategic Plan. Offshore wind energy development in federal ocean waters off California’s coast is poised to...more
The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more
1/5/2024
/ Affordable Housing ,
California ,
CEQA ,
Coastal Real Estate ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Excessive Noise ,
Governor Newsom ,
Housing Developers ,
Housing Market ,
Mixed-Use Zoning ,
Real Estate Development ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development
In an important step toward meeting California’s goal of producing up to 5,000 MW of offshore wind energy by 2030, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 286 into law on October 7, 2023. Authored by California Senate...more
Governor Newsom, on October 7, 2023, signed AB 1373 into law. The bill authorizes the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to serve as a central procurement entity to procure diverse clean energy resources in order to help the...more
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, in Olen Properties Corp. v. City of Newport Beach (2023) ___Cal.App.5th___, upheld the City of Newport Beach’s approval of a 312-unit apartment complex challenged by a neighboring...more
The Second District of the Court of Appeal on June 8 ordered publication of its May 12 opinion affirming the denial of a writ of mandate that challenged the City of Buenaventura’s removal and relocation of a statue of...more
The California Supreme Court, on May 17, 2023, granted review of the First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 656, where the Court of...more
California courts have long recognized the state’s duty to protect its tidelands, navigable waterways, and submerged lands (i.e., the land below the high tideline) under the common law public trust doctrine. However,...more
6/14/2023
/ Breach of Duty ,
California ,
Duty to Protect ,
Groundwater ,
Land Preservation ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Natural Resources ,
Public Agencies ,
Public Trust Doctrine ,
Public Use ,
Surface Water
The Sixth Appellate District, on May 10, 2023, published a decision in Preservation Action Council of San Jose v. City of San Jose (2023) __ Cal.App.5th __ upholding the City of San Jose’s certification of a final...more
The California Energy Commission (“CEC”), on April 28, 2023, released an Offshore Wind Energy Permitting Roadmap that builds on the Draft Conceptual Permitting Roadmap the CEC published in December 2022... AB 525 requires the...more
In Jenkins et al. v. Brandt-Hawley et al. (1st Dist., Div. 2, 2022) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the First District Court of Appeal found that CEQA suits can be subject to malicious prosecution actions. The Court of Appeal upheld an...more
The California Energy Commission (CEC) recently released drafts of two key work products required by AB 525: a Conceptual Permitting Roadmap and a Report on the Preliminary Assessment of Economic Benefits of Offshore Wind...more
Today the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the results of the first offshore wind lease sale on the West Coast. The provisional winners of the lease sale are: RWE Offshore Wind Holdings; California North...more
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), on October 21, 2022, published the Final Sale Notice (FSN) for the California lease areas available for commercial offshore wind energy development. The December 6 lease sale...more
On April 20, 2022, the Third District Court of Appeal filed its opinion in We Advocate Through Environmental Review v. County of Siskiyou (2022) 78 Cal.App.5th 683, reversing the trial court’s judgment upholding the County’s...more
On May 11, 2022, the Third District Court of Appeal published its opinion in We Advocate Through Environmental Review v. City of Mount Shasta (2022) 78 Cal.App.5th 629, reversing the decision below and ordering the trial...more
The California Energy Commission (CEC), on August 10, adopted a report establishing offshore wind planning targets of 2-5 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045. An earlier draft report in May had proposed planning goals of...more
In early April there were two major leaps forward in offshore wind development in California. On April 6, 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a bureau within the U.S. Interior Department, released a Draft...more
The California coast offers significant potential for offshore wind development that can help the state reach its renewable energy goals. Developers of wind energy projects located off the California coast will face a number...more
3/2/2022
/ BOEM ,
CAISO ,
California Coastal Commission ,
CEQA ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Review ,
Interconnections ,
Navigable Waters ,
NEPA ,
Offshore Wind ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Permits ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Renewable Energy ,
Section 404 ,
State Water Boards ,
Transmission Grid ,
Water Quality ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wind Power
In November 2021, ASTM International published a new technical standard for the Phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) process – E1527-21. The new E1527-21 largely mirrors the previous E1527-13 ASTM standard, adopted in...more
On December 2, 2021 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a proposed rule aimed at enhancing the safety of agricultural water used on covered produce (other than sprouts). The proposed rule is the agency’s...more
12/10/2021
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Comment Period ,
Crops ,
Farms ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
FSMA ,
Produce Safety Rule ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Water ,
Water Quality