My Contra Costa Times op-ed on Plan Bay Area
Saturday’s Contra Costa TImes carried this article about Plan Bay Area and the lawsuit that PLF has brought on behalf of Bay Area Citizens challenging the process by which it was adopted. Excerpt:...
View ArticleThe bay area needs fewer development restrictions, not more
As regular readers know, PLF is challenging a recently adopted plan that will restrict most future development in the bay area to 5% of the regions land area. Our lawsuit, filed on behalf of Bay Area...
View ArticleFreakonomics on CEQA’s environmental counterproductivity and NIMBYism
If you’re interested in CEQA reform, give a listen to this week’s Freakonomics podcast featuring Prof. Ed Glaeser. He discusses a number of environmental policies where messaging has outpaced the green...
View ArticleCEQA: Special interest groups’ favorite toy
Union activists in San Francisco recently filed suit to block Google’s commuter buses from stopping at City bus stations– a privilege for which Google pays the City handsomely. Why might activists use...
View ArticlePresident’s weekly report — March 5, 2015
Environment — Victory for common sense in permitting reviews The California Supreme Court issued this opinion in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of...
View ArticlePresident’s weekly report — August 28, 2015
WOTUS halted! A federal district court judge in North Dakota enjoined with this order EPA from enforcing it’s new breathtakingly illegal Waters of the United States rule. The court found that the harm...
View ArticleGreenhouse gases complicate CEQA
On Monday, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The ruling overturns an important section of a...
View ArticleCalifornia high court rejects “Reverse CEQA”
Last week, the California Supreme Court issued another major decision under the California Environmental Quality Act. In California Building Industry Association v. Bay Area Air Quality Management...
View ArticlePlan Bay Area argument set for May 31
Next Tuesday, May 31, the California Court of Appeal will hear argument over the legality of Plan Bay Area — the plan to restrict future development in all but a tiny fraction of the already incredibly...
View ArticlePresident’s weekly report — June 3, 2016
Supreme Court Victory! The Supreme Court gave Pacific Legal Foundation a resounding victory on Monday in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes. The unanimous Court held that a Corps of...
View ArticleCEQA and GHG Emissions
Author: Reed Hopper From the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental Law Blog, we have the following update: "On December 29, 2009, the California Natural Resources Agency ('Resources Agency') adopted...
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Competition is not a negative environmental impact
PLF regularly highlights how law is abused for anti-competitive purposes or how environmental laws can be stretched beyond reason and without proper respect for property rights. While we normally...
View ArticleCEQA: More precious than the Constitution?
We previously reported on the decision from California’s Fifth Appellate District in the case of Tuolumne Jobs, holding that CEQA applies to local voter initiatives under certain circumstances....
View ArticleCEQA versus the Constitution – round two
We have previously reported on the Tuolumne Jobs case, an important appellate decision expanding CEQA and diminishing California voters’ constitutional right of initiative. The Tuolumne Jobs decision...
View ArticlePresident's weekly report — January 18, 2013
Property Rights — United States Supreme Court We had our argument in the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday in Koontz v. St. Johns Water Management District. You can read the transcript here and...
View ArticleCalifornia Supreme Court lets voters be heard
Yesterday the California Supreme Court granted review of Tuolumne Jobs & Small Business Alliance v. Superior Court (Wal-Mart Stores). This is an excellent development, which PLF has supported....
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President's weekly report — February 15, 2013
Property Rights — Pretextual eminent domain Somebody at the Supreme Court is interested in what’s been going on in Guam — or at least the blatant pretextual taking of our client’s property in Ilagen v....
View ArticleCEQA taxes competition: business forces competitor to waste 18 months and...
Previously, we recounted the abusive use of CEQA by a gas station owner to protect himself from a competing station. Amir Shirazi, the owner of Moe’s, wanted to install additional pumps at his...
View ArticleCEQA reform opposed by enviros and … unions?
According to the LA Times, opposition to CEQA reform is spearheaded by an alliance of environmentalists and labor unions. At first blush, this seems an odd pairing. CEQA is an obstacle to development...
View ArticlePut down the legislation, and step away from the property rights
When I posted about supporting farming on AgDay this week, I was thinking about the importance of protecting farmers’ property rights. And maybe that legislatures should act to reduce the regulatory...
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