That fight over global warming in Sacramento — the one where Republican legislators have been holding up the state budget for six weeks because of Jerry Brown’s suit over a San Bernardino development? That’s only an “opening skirmish” in the coming legal battles over climate change, according to a California energy commissioner.
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The ABA in SF
Legal Pad is roaming the floor of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association. See all our coverage to date after the jump. |
Speaking Friday at the ABA seminar “Climate Change and Land Use — California Strategies,” Commissioner John Geesman said complying with the greenhouse gas emission standards set by California’s AB 32 will be far more difficult than people now realize. And the big battleground will likely be over land use.
Specifically, Geesman and his fellow government panelists agreed, housing and jobs are going to have to live closer together. Geesman said, for example, he could imagine “the fiscalization of land use,” where local governments are forced to rely more on retail tax than property tax, thereby pressuring them to incorporate more commercial development in their general plans.
Attorney General Jerry Brown fired one of the first shots in this legal battle three months ago, suing San Bernardino County for failing to consider the impact of new development there on global warming. That has become a flashpoint in the state budget stalemate.
One of Brown’s deputy AGs, Sandra Goldberg, fleshed out the legal issue at Friday’s seminar. The California Environmental Quality Act doesn’t impose any specific limits on carbon emissions, Goldberg acknowledged. But that doesn’t mean local governments or developers can ignore it — even though some have tried, she said. CEQA doesn’t impose specific limits on noise, odor or visual impairments, but it’s still been held to apply, she said.
| The ABA in SF Legal Pad is roaming the floor of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association. Check back over the next few days for fresh reports. Previously:
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As a practical matter, Goldberg suggested, new development will have to adopt “feasible mitigation measures” to comply with CEQA. Those could include reducing carbon emissions at existing businesses or reducing emissions from transportation.
“The single largest opportunity [for reducing emissions] resides with smart growth,” Goldberg said.
“The agency needs to use the best information available and make a decision based on that information," said Goldberg, who according to the introductions has worked 10 years in the AG’s office, as well as at the California Coastal Commission and at the nonprofit group Earthjustice.
Meanwhile, Larry Greene, executive officer of Sacramento’s AQMD, said he believed the 35 regional air boards will likely become more involved in greenhouse gas regulation too. They could look at issues like fireplace use, diesel idling, “manure management,” and methane capture at landfills, among other things.
But he too circled back to the issue of planning. “We’re seeing great projects and we’re seeing terrible projects,” he said, adding that -- unfortunately -- they seem to be moving through local governments at equal pace.
— Scott Graham
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