Optimizing the Siting and Design of Distributed Energy Resources
Utilities provide integration capacity maps that can help customers and developers optimize the placement of distributed energy resources like solar generation and electric vehicle chargers. The California Public Utilities Commission recently decided to require improvements to the maps, which will unlock new uses that can aid public agencies’ decarbonization efforts.
Using Solar & Energy Storage To Build Resilient Communities
In the late summer and fall in recent years, the power has been going out more often in California. Utilities are turning off residents’ power preemptively in unprecedented numbers. Energy storage systems owned by residents and public agencies, including those that are paired with solar generators, have the ability to safely provide power when the […]
Refinery Shifts from Petroleum to Renewable Fuels
In 2016 the firm successfully represents Rodeo residents in opposing the expansion of the Phillips 66 refinery for failure to adequately evaluate and mitigate the air quality impacts of the project. (Rodeo Citizens Ass’n. v. Contra Costa County.) In 2020, Phillips 66 announces plans to shift production away from petroleum products to renewable fuels.
Innovative Clean Fleet Rules Upheld
From the district court to the U.S. Supreme Court, the firm defends the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s innovative “Clean Fleet Rules” against a challenge by industry. SCAQMD ultimately wins a final judgment that upholds the bulk of the rules. (Engine Mfrs. Assn. v. SCAQMD, 541 U.S. 246 (2004); 498 F.4d 1031 (9th Cir. […]
Court Overturns Sprawl Development in Wildfire Risk Zone
The firm successfully challenges San Diego County’s 2019 approval of the Harmony Grove Village South Project, which would have brought sprawl development to a fire-prone, rural area of the County.
Public On-Demand Shuttle Service Fills Transit Gaps in Cupertino
The firm assists the City of Cupertino in launching an on-demand shuttle service in 2019 to provide transportation anywhere in Cupertino and to nearby mass transit, thereby reducing the use of single-occupancy automobiles.
SMW Defeats New Railyard Next to Disadvantaged Long Beach Community
The City of Long Beach, represented by the firm and joined by five other petitioner groups and the Attorney General, prevails in a CEQA challenge to the controversial “SCIG” railyard, whose air pollution threatened the health of nearby residents and schoolchildren. The court of appeal orders the approval rescinded. (City of Long Beach v. City […]
SMW Defends Cap and Trade Auction
The firm represents the Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council as intervenors in successfully defending the state’s auction of greenhouse gas emission allowances under AB 32’s cap and trade program. (California Chamber of Commerce v. State Air Resources Board, 10 Cal. App. 5th 604 (2017).)
Appellate Court Invalidates EIR for Regional Transportation Plan
The firm obtains an appellate decision invalidating the environmental impact report for a regional transportation plan adopted by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). SANDAG is ordered to consider a transit-oriented alternative to its freeway-centric plan. (Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. SANDAG, 17 Cal.App.5th 413 (2017).)
Recognition for a Supreme Court Victory
SMW partner Kevin Bundy receives the California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for his role, while at the Center for Biological Diversity, in obtaining a decision from the California Supreme Court overturning the greenhouse gas analysis for the Newhall Ranch project in L.A. County. (Center for Biological Diversity v. Cal. Dept. of Fish […]