On September 18, the Ninth Circuit handed a major victory to the California’s program to control greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels, turning aside constitutional challenges to the program brought by ethanol and petroleum industry interests in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Corey (No. 12-15131). The case arose from rulings in two separate actions in the Eastern District of California involving California’s “Low Carbon Fuel Standard.” The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is...

In Friends of Oroville v. City of Oroville (No. C079448) (Aug. 19, 2013), the Third District Court of Appeal reaffirmed the importance of conducting a meaningful review of greenhouse gas emissions as part of the CEQA process. The case arose from the City of Oroville’s approval of the relocation and expansion of a Wal-Mart “Supercenter.” A community group challenged the City’s decision to approve the project, arguing that the City failed to conduct an adequate...