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Courts reviewing an agency’s environmental assessment under NEPA may not speculate about potential significant environmental effects that are not supported by the record they must defer to the agency’s reasonable conclusions when they are supported by evidence in the record, especially on issues within the agency’s area of expertise.
Bair v. California Department of Transportation, 982 F.3d 569 (9th Cir. 2020).
This decision is the latest in long-running litigation challenging Caltrans’s plans to improve a one-mile section of U.S. 101 through Richardson Grove State Park. In its current condition, the highway section is closed to industry-standard trucks (known as “STAA” trucks because they are authorized by the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982); only shorter “California Legal” trucks are permitted. To safely accommodate STAA trucks, the project would slightly widen the roadway and straight
The only real difference will be HOW the trucks get here. Currently they deliver to everything south of Richarson Grove from the south. They deliver everything north of the Grove from the north. This means there are more trucks traveling through Eureka going to Garberville, etc. because they can’t get there from the south. These trucks are everywhere and that won’t change. The only change will be a savings in fuel and therefore shipping costs would be lower with the improvement project. Less miles equals less emissions. That should actually make the environmentalists happy. Environmentalists are the problem, not the solution here. They lack consistency and reason. But, then, so does the BOS generally speaking.