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Sierra Club Lawsuits

Big win in Fight Against Global Warming

Case Updates:

September 9, 2008

The state of California is once again ahead of the pack in the fight against global warming, thanks to a ruling last month in a California court. In the landmark ruling, a California court held that builders must account for the greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on climate change of a major resort and commercial development. The case, brought by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, sets a strong precedent in a new area of case law, one dealing with the causes of global warming. In the case, builders of the Palmwood resort, and the city of Desert Hot Springs, California, never looked at their contribution to climate change when proposing a massive new development in the California desert. The development includes the construction of 2,700 homes, 1 million square feet of commercial space, a 400-unit hotel and a 45 hole golf course.  Yet the environmental impact report filed by the city never once mentioned greenhouse gas emissions or addressed climate change. The judge’s rebuke of this refusal to look at global warming hopefully sets the stage for similar rulings that will help to begin lowering our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and slow the current pace of climate change.

Details and Documents:

To read the opinion click here.

Read the Center for Biological Diversity Press Release.