Bay Area Citizens v. Ass'n of Bay Area Gov'ts

248 Cal.App.4th 966

204 Cal.Rptr.3d 224

BAY AREA CITIZENS, Plaintiff and Appellant

v.ASSOCIATION OF BAY AREA GOVERNMENTS, et al., Defendants and Respondents.

A143058

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Filed June 30, 2016

Foley & Lardner, Michael E. Delehunt, San Francisco; Pacific Legal Foundation, M. Reed Hopper, John M. Groen, Jonathan Wood, Sacramento, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Thomas Law Group, Tina A. Thomas, Ashle T. Crocker, Amy R. Higuera; Association of Bay Area Governments, Kenneth K. Moy, Oakland; Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Adrienne D.Weil, for Defendants and Respondents.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Mark J. Breckler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Sally Magnani, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Timothy E. Sullivan, Deputy Attorney General, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

STEWART, J.

The primary issue raised by this appeal is whether the Bay Area agencies newly charged by state law with adopting a plan to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks over the coming decades should have relied on emissions reductions already expected from pre-existing statewide mandates to fulfill their statutory obligation, rather than adopting regional strategies to reduce emissions beyond those already expected from the statewide mandates. We conclude, as did the trial court, that the relevant agencies correctly declined to count statewide emissions reductions in developing their regional plan because doing so would have been inconsistent with the statute, including as interpreted by the state agency responsible for implementing California's greenhouse gas emission laws.

In 2008, the Legislature enacted the “Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008”,¹ which we refer to as “SB 375.” SB 375 is one in a series of executive, legislative and administrative measures enacted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their adverse effects on our climate. Prior measures empowered the California Air Resources Board (Board) to enact statewide mandates to reduce emissions, such as standards for vehicle technology and carbon content in fuel. SB 375 empowers the Board, after consideration of these previous statewide mandates and consultation with experts and regional planning bodies, to set targets for each of California's regional planning agencies to reduce emissions from automobiles and light trucks in its region. SB 375 requires each regional agency, after engaging in an extensive planning process, to develop a “sustainable community strategy” to meet the Board's targets using regional land use and transportation policies. Sustainable communities strategies are subject to environmental impact review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

In 2010, the Board issued its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for the Bay Area region. The Board called for the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) (collectively, the Agencies) to develop regional land use and transportation strategies that would result in per capita percentage reductions in emissions of 7 percent by 2020 and 15 percent by 2035, as compared to emissions in 2005. The Board repeatedly indicated that these reductions were to be in addition to those expected from pre-existing statewide mandates.

The Agencies prepared an update to the Bay Area's regional transportation plan and their first sustainable communities strategy in “Plan Bay Area.” The Agencies outlined ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Bay Area region independent of the statewide mandates so as to meet or exceed the Board's targets for the region. The Agencies engaged in a CEQA review of Plan Bay Area, issued a draft environmental impact report, received public comments and approved a final environmental impact report. Subsequently the Board accepted the Agencies' determination that Plan Bay Area would meet the Board's emission reduction targets for the Bay Area region.

Appellant Bay Area Citizens (Citizens) was critical of Plan Bay Area and offered an alternative plan of its own that counted on reductions expected from the pre-existing statewide mandates. After Plan Bay Area was approved, Citizens filed a petition for writ of mandate in Alameda County Superior Court challenging the Agencies' environmental impact report for, and adoption of, the Plan. Citizens argued the Agencies did not comply with CEQA because their environmental review erroneously failed to include emissions reductions expected from the statewide mandates in determining how to meet the Board's SB 375 targets. Citizens contended that neither SB 375 nor the Board prohibited the Agencies from counting on such reductions, and that the Agencies should have adopted, or at least considered, a Citizens-proposed alternative that relied on them to avoid what Citizens viewed as the “draconian” land use and transportation strategies comprising Plan Bay Area. The trial court, concluding that reliance on statewide mandates to meet the regional targets would constitute improper double counting not permitted by SB 375 or the Board, denied Citizens' petition. This appeal followed.

Citizens repeats its arguments on appeal, and we, too, find them unconvincing. Citizens relies on the premise that the Legislature, via SB 375, launched a major new climate protection initiative requiring regional agencies to develop regional land use and transportation strategies through an elaborate planning process that in the end would be superfluous because the agencies could meet the Board's regional emissions reduction targets simply by invoking reductions already expected from pre-existing statewide mandates. This interpretation makes no sense. And it is contradicted by SB 375's emphasis on regional innovations, the Legislature's declarations and findings, and the Board's contemporaneous construction of the statute. Further, even apart from the regional focus of SB 375 and the Legislature's declarations and findings, the Legislature conferred on the Board broad discretion to develop targets and require regional agencies to meet them through regional planning. It was within the Board's discretion to require regional agencies to achieve emissions reductions entirely through regional planning strategies so as to produce emissions reductions beyond those produced by statewide mandates. We also agree with the Attorney General, appearing as amicus curiae, that the Agencies' environmental review was sufficient under CEQA regardless of what SB 375 and the Board required of the Agencies. For these reasons, we affirm the trial court's denial of Citizens' petition.

BACKGROUND

I.Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Laws and Regulations

In 1997, the Legislature enacted a law that requires each regional metropolitan planning organization (MPO) to prepare and adopt a regional transportation plan designed to achieve a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system.² (Stats. 1997, ch. 622, § 24, p. 4405; Gov.Code, § 65080, subd. (a) (§ 65080 ).) This regional transportation plan must be “action-oriented and pragmatic, considering both the short-term and long term-future” and must “present clear, concise policy guidance to local and state officials.” (Ibid .)

Prior to 2008, a number of statutes and regulations were enacted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the statewide level, which we refer to as the “statewide mandates.” In 2008, the Legislature enacted SB 375. It requires each MPO, as part of its regional transportation plan, to adopt a “sustainable communities strategy.” In this sustainable communities strategy, each MPO must adopt regional land use and transportation strategies designed to meet, if feasible, regional greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020 and 2035 that the Board is given broad discretion to set.

In 2010, after receiving the required input from an expert advisory committee and the Agencies, the Board established greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for the Bay Area region pursuant to SB 375. The Agencies then developed a sustainable communities strategy for the region, “Plan Bay Area,” and in 2013 conducted an environmental review of it pursuant to CEQA. The Agencies concluded that Plan Bay Area met the Board's SB 375 targets and was environmentally acceptable, and adopted it. In 2014, the Board accepted the Agencies' determination that Plan Bay Area would meet the Board's SB 375 targets.

Citizens raises numerous issues related to the Agencies' compliance with CEQA in reviewing the potential environmental impacts of Plan Bay Area, focusing on the Agencies' sustainable communities strategy. At the center of all of Citizens' arguments is its contention that the Agencies should have, but did not, include the greenhouse gas emissions reductions that are expected from the statewide mandates in determining how to meet the Board's targets for the Bay Area region.

A. Statewide Mandates Leading Up to SB 375

In 2002, the Legislature enacted A.B. 1493, also called the “Pavley” legislation for its author. It requires the Board to develop regulations designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks and non-commercial vehicles sold in California. (Health & Saf.Code, § 43018.5.) Subsequently, the Board adopted these regulations, known as “Pavley I” and “Pavley II” respectively. Together, Pavley I and Pavley II set statewide emissions reduction targets for new passenger vehicles and trucks from 2009 through 2025.³

In 2005, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S–3–05. It calls for an overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within California to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

In 2006, the Legislature passed the “California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006” (Health & Saf.Code, § 38500 et seq. ), or “AB 32,” “California's landmark legislation addressing...