Navigating Environmental Restrictions on Alternative Project Delivery for Complex Infrastructure Projects
On-Demand Webinar | Charting a Course for Offshore Wind Energy in California
[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
[WEBINAR] Building a Solar Energy Project in 2018
How Trump's Infrastructure Plan Impacts the Energy Industry
BB&K's Charity Schiller Discusses CEQA Baseline
In Meinhardt v. City of Sunnyvale (2024) 16 Cal.5th 643 (“Meinhardt”), the California Supreme Court resolved a split in authorities over a procedural matter that will give CEQA litigants some certainty about when an appeal...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
A California Supreme Court ruling will allow student housing at University of California to be built at Berkeley's historic People's Park. In February 2023, a state appeals court in San Francisco had sided with the opponents,...more
So-called “social noise”—i.e., noise created by human voices—is not an environmental impact required by the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) to be analyzed for residential projects, the California Supreme Court...more
“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz - In a unanimous opinion filed on June 6, 2024, the California Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the First District Court of Appeal in the controversial...more
The Second District Court of Appeal confirmed again that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) favors finality in rejecting a challenge to a subsequent project approval for a 42-single family home project in Los...more
UPDATE: On August 23, 2023 the California Supreme Court, sitting en banc, denied Waterkeeper’s petition for review. The Second District Court of Appeal’s ruling therefore remains the governing law....more
On May 17, 2023, the California Supreme Court granted review of Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of Univ. California (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 656, a highly-publicized decision in which the Court of Appeal held that an...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
Public agencies prevailed in 71% of decisions involving the California Environmental Quality Act in 2022. Latham lawyers tracked key developments in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) case law throughout 2022....more
On May 17, 2020, the California Supreme Court granted review of the First District Court of Appeal’s controversial and much criticized published decision in Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California...more
A federal appeals court on Monday overturned Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction, agreeing with restaurant owners who argued the city bypassed federal energy regulations when it approved the...more
On April 19, 2023 the California Supreme Court denied the petition for review of the Save Livermore Downtown v. City of Livermore decision issued by the California First District Court of Appeal, which was filed by opponents...more
Opinion requiring local agency to give notice on meeting agenda of CEQA exemption determined by staff is no longer binding precedent, but some CEQA actions must still be agendized - On February 15, 2023, the California...more
The courts issued 16 published CEQA decisions in 2022, continuing a trend of fewer published opinions than the pattern established in earlier years. The only California Supreme Court opinion, County of Butte v. Department of...more
In 1963, the California legislature became concerned that private landowners were “bar[ring] public access to their land for recreational uses out of fear of incurring tort liability." Thus, it enacted Civ. Code, § 846 to...more
At its weekly conference held on August 24, 2022, the California Supreme Court acted to modify its recent majority opinion in County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources (State Water Contractors) (2022) ___ Cal.5th ___,...more
An August 12, 2022 letter to the Supreme Court – signed onto by more than a dozen leading CEQA attorneys not representing parties to the action or other clients – has requested the Court to modify its August 1, 2022 majority...more
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
The California Supreme Court issued the following decisions: County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources, et al., No. S258574: California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) operates the “Oroville Facilities,” an...more
On July 13, 2022, the California Supreme Court denied numerous depublication requests with respect to, and declined to review on its own motion, the First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Save the Hill Group v. City of...more
EPA sets stringent standards for PFAS in drinking water Bullet E&E News - June 15 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 15 announced new drinking water “health advisories” for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl...more
UC Berkeley ordered to freeze enrollment due to CEQA lawsuit Associated Press – March 3 The California Supreme Court ordered UC Berkeley last Thursday to freeze its undergraduate enrollment at 2020-21 levels...more
In a case potentially overshadowed by the California Supreme Court’s same-day denial to hear a request to stay a cap on student admissions at UC Berkeley, the Second Appellate District Court (Div. 2) issued its opinion in...more
A Summary of Published Appellate Opinions Under the California Environmental Quality Act - Introduction - The courts issued relatively few published CEQA decisions in 2021, with no California Supreme Court activity and...more