ELR Citation: ELR 20126
No(s). 08-1429 (Sup. Ct. Cal. Jun 4, 2009)

A California trial court held that a city's environmental impact report for a major expansion of an oil refinery in Richmond, California, violated the California Environmental Quality Act's new greenhouse gas requirements. Although the city identified a standard of no net increases in greenhouse gas emissions, it failed to identify any means of achieving that standard. In addition, the city improperly deferred its formulation of greenhouse gas mitigation measures until a future date. The court also ruled that the environmental impact report failed to clearly state whether the expansion project will allow the refinery to process heavier crude oil than it is currently processing and, thus, fails as an informational document.