Review of Workshop on CEQA, Global Warming & Endangered Species

Photos by Ursula Voysilius

On Saturday March 27, 2010, the Legal Committee for the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club put on a workshop entitled 'CEQA, Global Warming & Endangered Species.' This was the third in the series of legal workshops presented by Sierra Club and the Loyola Law School Environmental Law Society. The workshops have been designed to provide non-lawyers with legal tools to use in their conservation campaigns. The workshop was free of charge, and the audience was provided a free lunch and opportunities to ask the speakers questions and discuss environmental issues.

The idea behind the workshops is to present legal tools that activists can use in their environmental campaigns. Dean Wallraff, Vice Chair of the Legal Committee, commented that the 'environmental laws are extremely complex and difficult even for attorneys to understand, let alone master.' Wallraff continued, 'Presenting this information in a short period of time is challenging.'

Picking the right speakers is also difficult. The committee looks for experts, usually plaintiffs' lawyers employed by non-profit organizations, academia, or government. The real challenge is locating speakers who are good communicators. The legal committee carefully reviews evaluation forms filled out by participants in an effort to improve future presentations.

For this workshop, the legal committee requested the speakers to incorporate case studies into the lectures to show how the law applies to situations that environmentalists are likely to encounter. Participants seemed to appreciate this realworld connection to the material. Speakers gave a general overview of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and Global Warming Law. They then applied the laws to specific cases. CEQA took center stage with two case studies.

The first case study involved the proposed expansion of a golf course and construction of 112 luxury homes in Rolling Hills Estates, California. In addition to numerous problems with the Draft EIR, the developer omitted a trail system that was part of the City's General Plan. The whole process was discussed: the initial study, using the Public Records Act to gather facts, working with experts, commenting on the Draft EIR and making the administrative record.

Amy Bricker of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, LLP presented a study on the groundbreaking case of Sierra Club vs. City of Stockton. The Sierra Club challenged Stockton's updated General Plan under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it did not adequately address greenhouse gas emissions. Bricker explained that this case is significant because it demonstrates that global warming must now be considered in General Plans and it shows how activists can use CEQA to improve the way landuse planning addresses climate change.

Tom Mauriello of the Mauriello Law Firm presented an overview of NEPA which was well received. Jonathan Evans for the Center for Biological Diversity gave a compelling lecture on the Endangered Species Act. Doug Carstens talked about legal tools for combating global warming.