March 2013

The Second District Court of Appeal upheld  the County of Santa Barbara’s Final Revised Environmental Impact Report for a 30-year conditional use permit (CUP) for the Diamond Rock mine project.  Save Cuyama Valley v. County of Santa Barbara (2013 2nd Dist., Div. 6), 213 Cal.App.4th 1059 (filed 1/10/13, modified 2/8/13).  The CUP allowed excavation of 500,000 tons of sand and gravel each year by real party Troesch Materials, Inc. from the often dry bed of the Cuyama River.  Save Cuyama Valley lost its writ of mandate challenge to the EIR, and the Court of Appeal affirmed.
Continue Reading Second District Rejects CEQA Challenge To EIR for Riverbed Sand And Gravel Mining Project, Upholds Santa Barbara County’s Discretion to Formulate Project-Specific Threshold of Significance, and Finds EIR’s Erroneous “Not Significant” Conclusion Nonprejudicial