The California Supreme Court ruled on Monday to reject Newhall Land’s environmental impact report for the Newhall Ranch project, taking the project “back to the drawing board.”
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The California Supreme Court found that the project did not have substantial evidence in regards to greenhouse gas emissions, did not adequately protect the endangered unarmored threespine stickleback and the plaintiffs, the Center for Biological Diversity, used up all of their resources by holding an optional comment period.
Related: Petition For Review Filed To California Supreme Court Over Newhall Ranch’s Mission Village Development
Justice Ming Chin, objected the ruling, saying the EIR could be “easily fixed” and the harm is in delay.
“The current EIR was finalized some five years ago,” said Chin. “ By the time this litigation ends, and the new EIR is prepared and finalized, we will be much closer to 2020 than when the current EIR was finalized in 2010.”
Chin also said that delaying the project could offer rewards for opponents of the project.
“Delay the project long enough and it has to meet new targets, and then perhaps new targets after that,” said Chin. “All this is a recipe for paralysis.”
Justice Carol Corrigan agreed with a majority of the ruling, specifically the issues regarding the unarmored threespine stickleback and the methodology used to assess the significance of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Corrigan did not believe that the Newhall Ranch project should have to provide comprehensive information regarding the greenhouse gas emissions.
“Because the level of detail the majority demands from this EIR is contrary to both our deferential standard of review and our approval of the methodology used to assess greenhouse gas significance, I respectfully dissent from that portion of its opinion,” said Corrigan.
Newhall Ranch is a 19-square-mile project proposed by Newhall Land and would include approximately 20,000 homes west of Interstate 5.
Related: California Supreme Court Justices Hear Arguments On The Newhall Land’s Newhall Ranch Project
The completed project would bring about 60,000 new residents to the site, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
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Thank you Khts for this info.
What a shame