Citizens Opposing A Dangerous Environment v. County of Kern CA5

This is an appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Kern County denying a petition for a writ of mandamus in favor of respondents County of Kern (the County) and Kern County Board of Supervisors (the Board).

Real parties in interest North Sky River Energy, LLC (North Sky River), and Jawbone Wind Energy, LLC (Jawbone), applied for rezoning and a conditional use permit for mobile concrete batch plants in order to build and operate a wind farm in the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) and its “Guidelines,” the County conducted an initial study, determined that the project might impose a significant impact on the environment, and prepared a draft environmental impact report (EIR). The draft EIR, inter alla, indicated that the project’s wind turbine generators (WTG’s or generators) might pose a significant safety hazard to aircraft and gliders using Kelso Valley Airport (KVA or Airport), and described mitigation measure No. 4.8-8 (measure 4.8-8), which required North Sky River and Jawbone to obtain a “Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation” from the Federal Aviation…