Environmental and Natural Resources

My Project Changed—Is My EIR Still Valid: A New California Supreme Court Case Provides Guidance

by Mark D. Johnson Change is inevitable.  Many times between project approval and project construction fluctuations in market conditions, financing terms or other factors mandate project changes.  Do the changes require a further or modified California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) analysis?  A new California Supreme Court case, Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens […]

| 3 min read | Tagged: , , , , , ,
MJ
Former Partner

It’s the Effect of the Project on the Environment – Not the Effect of the Environment on the Project

by Sean Sherlock The California Supreme Court has resolved a longstanding uncertainty regarding the scope of environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). In 1995, a California Court of Appeal held that CEQA requires a lead agency to evaluate the effect of a project on the environment, but not the effect of the […]

| 6 min read | Tagged: , , ,
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New CEQA Cases Approve of Flexibility in Determining Environmental Baseline

by Sean M. Sherlock The California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) requires agencies to evaluate whether projects they are performing or permitting will have a significant effect on the environment. But significant compared to what? In evaluating a project’s impact on the environment, an agency must determine appropriate baseline conditions against which to compare the project. […]

| 5 min read | Tagged: , , ,
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