On March 21, 2012, the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review of the Second District’s published opinion in Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, et al. v. City of Los Angeles (2011) 201 Cal.App.4th 455 (“Ballona Wetlands”). As noted in my December 14, 2011 post (“From Baird to Ballona Wetlands: CEQA’s Logical Limits”), Ballona Wetlands is the most recent in a line of so-called “CEQA-in-reverse” cases, which holds that CEQA is concerned with the impact of the project on the existing environment, not vice-versa.

In denying review, the Supreme Court also denied the depublication requests of numerous environmental groups (including the National Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Environmental Defense Center), and of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District...