Western Placer Citizens for an Agricultural & Rural Environment v. County of Placer

The superior court determined a county’s environmental impact report analyzing a proposed aggregate mine violated the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq. (CEQA)) by failing to include and analyze a slightly revised project description submitted by the applicant after the final environmental impact report was prepared, and by inadequately analyzing water supply issues. We reverse.

FACTS

In December 1994, real party in interest Teichert, Inc. (Teichert), submitted permit applications for a 100-year project to mine and process sand, gravel, and granite on 945 acres of a 1,878-acre site located four miles north of Lincoln in unincorporated Placer County. Coon Creek, a perennial stream, traverses the central portion of the site and flows south westward. Doty Ravine crosses the southern tip of the site flowing westward, then joins Coon Creek. The site is currently operated as a cattle ranch with most of the level land in permanent pasture, hayfield or livestock food crops, and the remaining land used primarily as rangeland. The state Department of Conservation has designated virtually all of the site as prime farmland and farmland of…