Endangered Habitats League, Inc. v. State Water Res. Control Bd.

Good Law

1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 1142·63 Cal. App. 2d 227·63 Cal. App. 4th 227·73 Cal. Rptr. 2d 388·98 Daily Journal DAR 3909

Court of Appeal of CaliforniaDecember 16, 1997C023259California6,305 words

Opinion

Morrison, J.

The trial court sustained a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenge. (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.; further section references are to this code). The dispute in this case is about where to begin. Real parties in interest focus on defenses of statute of limitations and exhaustion of remedies. Plaintiffs defend the trial court’s focus on “tiering” and conclude the challenge lodged in this case was proper because there had been no prior opportunity to challenge this “tier” of the project. We shall modify the judgment and affirm.

Procedural Background

The Endangered Habitats League, Inc., and Union for a River Greenbelt Environment (Habitat) filed a petition for writ of mandate and declaratory relief on February 10, 1995, naming the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Resources) and Department of Fish and Game (Fish and Game) as respondents, and the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and Riverside County as real parties. Real parties in interest share the same boards (Stats. 1971, ch. 273, § 1, p. 573), and will be referred to as Riverside. Riverside’s suggestion in a footnote that the county should not be a party is…

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