Attorney General Announces Workshops to Assist Local Agencies in Addressing Global Warming Impacts in CEQA Analysis

On February 19, 2008, Attorney General Brown sent letters to all 58 counties and over 200 cities announcing five workshops statewide in which the AG will discuss the interplay between CEQA and Global Warming impacts.

The workshops will seek to address such questions as:

• “How do we prepare an inventory of baseline greenhouse gas emissions?”
• “How do we model future emissions?”
• “What kinds of mitigation must we consider?”

Notably, the Attorney General dismissed any question that CEQA was the proper tool for combating greenhouse gas emissions, affirmatively stating that “greenhouse gas emissions are the type of environmental effect that agencies must address under CEQA.”

The full text of the Attorney General’s letter may be found by clicking here.

Meyers Nave has a team of attorneys dedicated to all aspects of greenhouse gas regulation as it applies to our clients including AB 32, CEQA compliance, green building ordinances, and more. If you have questions regarding any of these issues, please do not hesitate to contact either Tim Cremin or Ed Grutzmacher.