California Environmental Quality Act
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The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), signed into law by Governor Reagan in 1970, requires that state and local agencies disclose and evaluate the significant environmental impacts of proposed projects, and adopt all feasible measures to mitigate those impacts. This includes cumulatively significant impacts such as increased greenhouse gas emissions. A copy of every complaint filed under CEQA must be provided to the Attorney General.
The California Attorney General has filed comment letters under CEQA about a number of proposed projects. The Attorney General filed a complaint 
[PDF 2.5 mb / 15 pg] against San Bernardino County based on the county’s failure to analyze increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the county’s proposed general plan amendment. That case resulted in a settlement agreement [PDF 354 kb / 66 pg] in which the county agreed to adopt a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan. The Attorney General also reached an agreement with ConocoPhillips Company to mitigate the increased greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s planned refinery expansion in Rodeo (Contra Costa County). See the settlement agreement. [PDF 364 kb / 6 pg] The Attorney General reached an agreement with the Port of Los Angeles under which it will conduct a comprehensive inventory of port-related greenhouse gases—tracking these emissions from their foreign sources to domestic distribution points throughout the United States. See the agreement and attachments. [PDF 51 kb / 10 pg] The Attorney General reached a settlement with Great Valley Energy requiring it to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from a corn-based ethanol plant in Hanford. Read the agreement. [PDF 5.7 mb / 10 pg]
In April, 2007, the Attorney General filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court, supporting the South Coast Air Quality Management District in a case it has brought against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), challenging a decision by the CPUC to allow the importation and use of very hot-burning liquid natural gas (LNG) in California. The CPUC claims it did not have to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in making this decision, but the South Coast District believes, and we support them, that the hot-burning LNG will cause greater air pollution, and that the CPUC therefore was required to do an EIR before approving its use. Read a copy of the brief. [PDF 185 kb / 50 pg]
Our office has prepared a Fact Sheet listing various mitigation measures [PDF 190 kb / 20 pg] that local agencies may consider under CEQA to offset or reduce global warming impacts. We also have prepared a Chart of Modeling Tools to Estimate Climate Change Emissions Impacts of Projects/Plans.