Paulek

Plaintiff and appellant Albert Thomas Paulek appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of mandate under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.). He seeks a writ directing defendant and respondent Department of Water Resources (Department) to vacate its approval of the final environmental impact report (EIR) with respect to the Perris Dam Remediation Project. In its draft EIR, the Department proposed three activities: (1) remediating structural deficiencies in the Perris Dam, (2) replacing the facility’s outlet tower, and (3) creating a new “Emergency Outlet Extension.” In response to comments on the draft EIR, the emergency outlet extension was split off into a separate environmental review process, and the final EIR at issue considers only dam remediation and outlet tower replacement.

Paulek contends on appeal that the lack of an emergency outlet extension constitutes a significant environmental impact that the project as finally approved fails to mitigate, and that the separation of the emergency outlet extension into a different project constitutes impermissible segmentation. He further contends that the Department did…