Communities for a Better Environment v. California Resources Agency

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) authorizes the Secretary of the California Resources Agency (Resources Agency) to adopt “Guidelines” to implement CEQA. The Guidelines are published in title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.

In 1998, the Resources Agency adopted significant revisions to the Guidelines. Several of these revised Guidelines, as characterized by one treatise, “dealt with many of the stickiest, and most controversial, issues in CEQA jurisprudence.”

The present matter encompasses both an appeal and a cross-appeal.

In the appeal, we uphold the trial court’s invalidation of the following Guidelines: section 15064, subdivision (h) (hereafter Guidelines section 15064(h)) (regulatory standards to determine significant environmental effect); sections 15064, subdivision (i)(4) (hereafter Guidelines section 15064(i)(4)) and 15130, subdivision (a)(4) (hereafter Guidelines section 15130(a)(4)) (how “de minimis” effects in a cumulatively impacted environment affect environmental impact report (EIR) preparation and discussion); Guidelines section 15130, subdivision (b)(l)(B)2 (hereafter Guidelines section 15130(b)(l)(B)2) (the definition of…