News & Analysis as of

Preemption California Environmental Quality Act

Miller Starr Regalia

That Dam Case (Again): Third District Upholds Oroville Hydropower Facilities Relicensing EIR Against Numerous CEQA Challenges

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On April 7, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal filed a lengthy published opinion – the latest installment in one of the longer ongoing CEQA battles in recent memory – affirming a judgment finding an EIR for the Federal...more

Miller Starr Regalia

“Permanent Vacation” In Palm Springs? – Fourth District Holds CEQA’s Short 35-Day Statute of Limitations Does Not Apply Despite...

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In a published opinion filed on February 23, 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment of dismissal after the sustaining of a demurrer and held that an amended writ petition challenging a city’s street...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Supreme Court Denies Review And Depublishes Troublesome Brown Act/CEQA Exemption Decision

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On February 15, 2023, the California Supreme Court denied the petitions for review and issued an order decertifying the Second District Court of Appeal’s controversial (and previously published) opinion in G.I. Industries v....more

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Upholds Use of Government Code Section 65457 CEQA Exemption For Downtown Livermore Affordable Housing Project,...

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In an opinion in a much-publicized case, filed December 28, 2022, and later ordered published on January 26, 2023, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3), upheld the City of Livermore’s (“City”) approval of a 130-unit...more

Downey Brand LLP

Court Holds CEQA Is Not Preempted in Federal Hydroelectric Relicensing Proceeding

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In County of Butte v. Dep’t of Wat. Resources (2022) 13 Cal.5th 612, issued on August 1, 2022, the California Supreme Court carved out a role for the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) even where the project is...more

Miller Starr Regalia

California Supreme Court Holds In 5-2 Decision, Over Chief Justice’s Strong Dissent, That Federal Power Act Does Not Fully Preempt...

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In a 5-2 opinion filed August 1, 2022, a divided California Supreme Court held the Federal Power Act (“FPA”; 16 U.S.C. § 791a et seq.) does not “occupy the field” and entirely preempt CEQA’s application to the state’s...more

Downey Brand LLP

California Supreme Court Grants Review of Third District’s Preemption Decision

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On December 11, 2019, the California Supreme Court granted review of the Third District’s decision in County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources, dismissing a CEQA challenge to DWR’s relicensing application to the...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Must CEQA Compliance Precede Project Approval? When State Water Board Water Quality Certifications Are Involved, The Answer Is As...

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“The more I know, the less I understand/All the things I thought I’d figured out, I have to learn again” – Don Henley, “The Heart of the Matter” - One of CEQA’s bedrock principles is that environmental review must precede...more

Miller Starr Regalia

California Supreme Court CEQA Update: Summer 2020

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With 2020 more than half gone, here’s a quick look at what’s been going on with the California Supreme Court in CEQA matters: POWER Case Argued and Submitted. We can expect more guidance regarding the fine points of CEQA’s...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

CEQA News You Can Use - Vol. 4, Issue 4

Welcome to CEQA News You Can Use, a quarterly production of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP’s Natural Resources lawyers. This publication provides quick, useful bites of CEQA news, which we hope can be a resource to your...more

Miller Starr Regalia

State Courts Lack Jurisdiction Over CEQA Challenge To Matters Within FERC’s Jurisdiction In Hydroelectric Dam Relicensure Process...

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issues licenses needed to construct and operate hydroelectric dams pursuant to the Federal Power Act (“FPA”; 16 U.S.C. § 791a, et seq). ...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Railroad/Hazardous Materials Transportation: Federal Appellate Court Addresses Constitutional/Preemption Challenge to California...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Court”) addressed in a September 13th opinion a judicial challenge to California Senate Bill 84 (“SB 84”) which requires railroads to collect fees from customers...more

Holland & Knight LLP

New Decisions Offer Important Guidance on California Ballot Box Planning - Rulings Help Reconcile Local Land Use Decisions with...

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• Two recent decisions by California courts offer important judicial guidance on the longstanding issue of reconciling local government land use decisions with the referendum and initiative powers reserved to the people by...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

California Court of Appeal Determines State Law Preempts Local Ordinance Provisions in Specific Instances

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CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development - In a partially published opinion issued April 4, 2018, Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute v. City and County of San Francisco, Case...more

Miller Starr Regalia

“Sauce For The Gander”: Second District Holds CEQA’s Broad Definition Of “Project” Also Applies In Determining Scope of Activity...

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In a published decision filed June 12, 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) held that the same broad definition of a “project” that mandates more extensive CEQA review of activities undertaken or approved by...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Recent and Upcoming Changes to CEQA - BB&K Attorney Amanda Daams Discusses the California Environmental Quality Act in a...

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), codified at Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq., is arguably California’s preeminent and most comprehensive environmental law. Originally published in Riverside...more

Miller Starr Regalia

When “Tigers Eat Their Young” – Federal Preemption Of CEQA In Context Of Railroad Projects Will Continue To Present Complex Issues...

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On April 30, 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed in North Coast Railroad Authority v. Friends of the Eel River, U.S. Supreme Ct. Case No. 17-915, which presented this issue: ...more

Downey Brand LLP

Update: SCOTUS Declines Review of Friends of the Eel River CEQA Preemption Decision

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The United States Supreme Court will not be taking up the California Supreme Court’s July 2017 decision in the Friends of the Eel River case. In that decision, authored by Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, the California Supreme...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Fifth District Holds Cap-And-Trade Program Compliance Supports Refinery Project EIR’s Conclusion That GHG Emissions Are Less Than...

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In a lengthy, partially published opinion filed November 21, 2017, the Fifth District Court of Appeal addressed four CEQA challenges asserted by plaintiffs and appellants (“AIR”) to the sufficiency of Kern County’s 2014 Final...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Faceoff with Federal Government Possibly Looming Following California Supreme Court CEQA Ruling; Cal High Speed Rail Project Also...

In July 2017, the California Supreme Court determined the federal Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (49 U.S.C. § 10101 et seq.) (“ICCTA”) does not preempt the application of the California Environmental...more

Perkins Coie

CA Supreme Court Holds CEQA Not Preempted by Federal Rail Transportation Law for Projects Carried Out by State Agencies

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The California Supreme Court has issued its decision in Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad, an important case regarding preemption of state environmental law by the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Calif. High Court: U.S. Rail Law Doesn't Categorically Pre-empt CEQA on Public Entity Projects - Decision Sets Up Showdown with...

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The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Cal. Pub. Res. Code §21000 et seq., imposes significant procedural and substantive requirements on private and public projects throughout the state. However, even a state law...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

CEQA Not Preempted in State-Owned Rail Project - California Supreme Court Decision Could Impact High-Speed Rail Project

In a decision that could have significant implications for California’s high-speed rail project, the California Supreme Court recently held in Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority that the federal...more

Downey Brand LLP

“Self-Governance,” Not “Regulation”: California Supreme Court Rules No Federal Preemption of CEQA under ICCTA for State-Owned Rail...

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On July 27, the California Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision in Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority (S222472), resolving a split among the State’s courts of appeal—but arguably...more

Miller Starr Regalia

California Supreme Court Holds CEQA Applies to State Entity’s Railroad Project on State-Owned Rail Line As Act of...

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On July 7, 2017, the California Supreme Court filed its 69-page opinion, written by Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and joined by five other justices, in Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority, et al. (2017)...more

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