(task) San Diego's climate change plan is legally enforceable, city attorney says | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

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> http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/18/jan-goldsmith-city-attorney-climate-change-plan/ <http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/18/jan-goldsmith-city-attorney-climate-change-plan/>
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> Climate change plan legally enforceable, city attorney says
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> San Diego’s landmark plan to reduce greenhouse gases is legally enforceable, according to a new memo from the City Attorney’s Office.
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> This is the first legal opinion about the key requirements of the city’s climate blueprint, which include lowering greenhouse-gas emissions by 15 percent below 2010 levels by the year 2020, and then by 50 percent by 2035.
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> The memo said San Diego is required to meet its climate-change benchmarks because they’re part of the environmental document for the city’s general plan, which is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA.
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> The document reads in part: “The (greenhouse gas) emissions reduction targets in the (Climate Action Plan) … are legally binding to the extent required by the California Environmental Quality Act."
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> Questions about enforceability of the global-warming blueprint, officially called the Climate Action Plan, arose this month when Deputy City Attorney Mara Elliott, who will vie in the June primary to succeed her boss Jan Goldsmith, made statements at a public debate that called into question the widely held assumption that the plan is legally binding.
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> “We are pleased to see the city attorney verify that the Climate Action Plan is indeed legally binding and the greenhouse gas reduction targets are enforceable,” said Nicole Capretz, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Action Campaign in San Diego.
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> The environmental community had asked Mayor Kevin Faulconer to seek clarification after Elliot made her remarks, which were first reported by the Voice of San Diego.
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> “We are glad to see this issue clarified so we can move on to more important issues like implementation,” Capretz said.
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> The city and environmental groups have repeatedly hailed the climate plan for having objectives that are enforceable under state law, a distinction that contrasts it with many other municipal efforts to combat human-caused global warming.
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> Faulconer’s office has long said that while the specific policies and projects used to achieve lower emissions outlined in the climate plan are flexible until adopted by the City Council, the final greenhouse gas targets are legally binding. Specific strategies include boosting the use of public transportation and transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy citywide in the next two decades.
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> The new memo, dated Tuesday, bolstered that reading of the plan while potentially carving out wiggle room for the adjustment of those targets based on applicable changes to state law, pending legal decisions and the findings of annual monitoring reports required by the Climate Action Plan.
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> The memo states in part: “The (Climate Action Plan) targets are based on data available at the time the (plan) was prepared to ensure compliance with applicable laws.”
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> Local public interest attorney Cory Briggs, who successfully sued the county over its climate change plan, agreed that the memo was a vindication of earlier interpretations and that if the city fails to meet its goals, it will open itself up to citizen lawsuits.
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> “Overall the statement shouldn’t give too much heartburn,” he said. “The city has local standards that are unlikely to be weakened. State law would have to undergo a pretty radical change in order for the state-level foundation components of the Climate Action Plan to be eroded in any material way.”
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> In November, the city is scheduled to release its first annual report on the climate plan, complete with metrics for tracking greenhouse-gas emissions yearly.