County Superior Court ruled July 20 for Sonoma Valley attorney Jerry Bernhaut in his lawsuit arguing that the County's Climate Action Plan is inadequate. 

The ruling said of the Climate Action Plan’s Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) that: “…the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions is based on insufficient information; the PEIR fails to include effectively enforceable, clearly defined performance standards for the mitigation measures regarding Green House Gas (“GHG”) emissions, identified as “GHG Reduction Measures;” and fails to develop and fully analyze a reasonable range of alternatives.”

Sierra Club Sonoma Group urges Sonoma County to abide by the court's ruling and not delay acting on climate change by appealing the decision. We need to improve and implement the Climate Action Plan so that we can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Sonoma County as soon as possible.

The ruling specifically attacked the development streamlining feature (Appendix A of the Plan) which would allow development to go forward without environmental review if a checklist was complied with. The ruling also says that the County needs to consider a wider range of greenhouse gas sources, use better measurement methodologies and more complete analysis of how well reduction measures will work.

For more information:

Sonoma Sun article: http://sonomasun.com/2017/07/26/local-sonoma-valley-attorney-wins-lawsuit-challenging-countys-climate-action-plan/

Court ruling: http://transitionsonomavalley.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Order-Granting-Writ-7-20-17.pdf

Sonoma County Climate Action Plan: http://rcpa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CA2020_Plan_7-7-16_web.pdf