Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino

The Center for Biological Diversity and Helphinkley .org (together Helphinkley) successfully challenged the County of San Bernardino’s (the County) approval of an open-air human waste composting facility, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), and subsequently obtained an order of attorney fees under the private attorney general statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 1021.5). Nursery Products, LLC (Nursery Products), the proponent of the project and real party in interest, contends the trial court erred by decertifying the final environmental impact report (FEIR) for the project on the grounds it did not adequately (1) analyze the feasibility of an enclosed composting facility as an alternative to an open-air facility, or (2) address the issue of water supply for the facility. As to the latter issue, the court determined the proposed project was subject to Water Code section 10910, which requires either the public water system that may provide water for the project, or the city or county when no public water system is identified, to prepare a water supply assessment (WSA) that analyzes whether there are sufficient water supplies…