Facts

The Town of Atherton, Planning and Conservation League; City of Menlo Park; Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund; California Rail Foundation; and Bayrail Alliance sued the California High Speed Rail Authority in 2008 under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), challenging the California High-Speed Rail Authority's certification of a program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Bay Area to Central Valley portion of the system. The Plaintiffs, which consisted of Peninsula cities and environmentalists, raised a variety of issues, including inadequate analysis of impacts and inadequate consideration of alternatives.

The Court found the PEIR inadequate, primarily for failing to address the Union Pacific Railroad's refusal to allow its right of way to be used by the Project, and issued a writ of mandate ordering revisions to the PEIR.

In 2010, after the Authority revised and recertified the PEIR, the Plaintiffs, joined by the City of Palo Alto and other local community groups, again challenged its adequacy, and in 2011 the Court again agreed in part and issued additional writs ordering further revisions to the PEIR.

In 2012, the Authority certified a further revised PEIR, which the Plaintiffs again challenged as inadequate for failing to consider a blended system as a project alternative and failing to address Caltrain's objections to using its right of way for a four-track high-speed rail system.

This time, the Court found the revised PEIR adequate and discharged the two writs.

Result

After nearly five years of litigation and multiple revisions of the plan, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny accepted the Program EIR as adequate.

Other Information

Judge Kenny's prior 2011 decision is pending on appeal in the Third Appellate District.