A Climate-Killing Regional Transportation Plan Winds Up in Court: Background and Remedies

摘要

On October 28th, 2011, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) held a public-hearing and meeting to consider 1. Adopting their Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which they had dubbed RTP2050 2. Certifying, under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) law, RTP2050's Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). RTP2050 was to replace their last approved RTP, RTP2030, which they had adopted in 2007. The SANDAG Board Members voted for approval of RTP2050 and its FEIR. On Nov. 25, 2011, the Cleveland National Forest Foundation (CNFF) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed suit in San Diego County Superior Court, challenging SANDAG's approval and certification under California Environmental Quality Act law. On January 23, 2012, the CNFF/CBD suit was joined by California's Attorney General Kamala Harris and Sierra Club California. Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor's final ruling against SANDAG was dated December 3, 2012. It set aside SANDAG's October 28, 2011 certification of the EIR for RTP2050. Its key finding was that the FEIR was "impermissibly dismissive of Executive Order S-03-05". (SANDAG is appealing.) The rest of this paper will provide background and mathematics to show that climate remedies exist and that Judge Taylor hit the nail on the head, with his December 3rd ruling.