Opinion ID: 1161804
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: UCSF may continue its present activities at Laurel Heights pending certification of an adequate EIR.

Text: (29) Our decision that the EIR is inadequate under CEQA raises the question of whether UCSF should be allowed to continue its present activities at Laurel Heights pending the Regents' certification of a proper EIR. We conclude that such activities may continue. As originally enacted, CEQA did not prescribe the action that a court should take if it found that CEQA had been violated. In 1984, section 21168.9 was enacted. We must construe this statute for the first time. Subdivision (a) requires that if a court finds any determination, finding, or decision of a public agency has been made without compliance with this division the court shall enter an order with one or more specified provisions. One of them is [a] mandate that the public agency and any real parties in interest suspend all activity, pursuant to the finding, determination, or decision, that could result in any change or alteration to the physical environment, until the public agency has taken such actions as may be necessary to bring the determination, finding, or decision into compliance with this division. (§ 21168.9, subd. (a)(2).) Section 21168.9 grants us the authority to stay all activity at Laurel Heights until the Regents certify a proper EIR. The question is whether we should do so. Because CEQA does not require us to enjoin the present activity, we rely on traditional equitable principles in deciding whether injunctive relief is appropriate. We find guidance in recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court in cases arising under federal environmental statutes. In Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo (1982) 456 U.S. 305 [72 L.Ed.2d 91, 102 S.Ct. 1798], the United States Navy had been found by a federal district court to be in violation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) because the Navy had not obtained a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for weapons training during which naval ordnance fell into the sea off the Puerto Rico coast. The district court ordered the Navy to apply for the required permit but allowed the Navy to continue its activities while seeking the permit. The Court of Appeals found that FWPCA withdrew the courts' equitable discretion and required an injunction of all activities until the Navy obtained the permit. The high court disagreed and reasoned that traditional equitable principles govern the decision of whether to enjoin activity that violates the FWPCA. The court rejected the argument that failure to enjoin the Navy would undermine the integrity of the permit process by allowing the statutory violation to continue. The court explained that, The integrity of the Nation's waters ... not the permit process, is the purpose of the FWPCA. (456 U.S. at p. 314 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 100, 102 S.Ct. at p. 1804].) The court recognized that compliance with the permit requirements achieves the purpose of protecting water resources but explained that such purpose would not be undercut by allowing the Navy to continue because it had been ordered to obtain the permit and because the activity had not polluted the water. (456 U.S. at p. 315 [72 L.Ed.2d at p. 100, 102 S.Ct. pp. 1804-1805].) [23] We agree with the high court's approach and adopt it for deciding whether a CEQA violation must be enjoined. A primary purpose of CEQA is to protect the environment. In light of our conclusion that there is substantial evidence to support the Regents' finding that the present activities will be mitigated, we believe CEQA will not be thwarted by allowing UCSF to continue its present activities at Laurel Heights. We believe the Regents have the good faith and ability to prepare an EIR that complies with CEQA and that they will proceed apace to do so. We can reasonably assume the Association and the trial court will closely monitor the Regents' progress in complying with our decision. Such oversight is an additional assurance a new EIR will be completed without undue delay. Should it become clear, however, that the Regents cannot or will not prepare and certify a legally adequate EIR and that compliance with CEQA will not be promptly forthcoming, the trial court can reconsider the question of whether equitable relief terminating operations at Laurel Heights is then appropriate. [24] As in Romero-Barcelo, there is no evidence the environment is being adversely affected by the present activities. We have expressly found there is substantial evidence of mitigation of the potential effects of the present activities identified in the present EIR. The defects in the EIR relate only to future activity, which the EIR failed to address, and to feasible alternatives. UCSF and the general public might be unduly prejudiced if we were to enjoin the present activities. Requiring the University to cease existing laboratory operations at the Laurel Heights facility and to move them to other sites would cause unnecessary cost that would ultimately be borne by the taxpayers. More important, such an order would seriously disrupt ongoing scientific research and perhaps cause the University to lose important faculty members and research funds. UCSF's research is designed to improve the state of medical knowledge and thus improve and even save lives. We are especially reluctant to interfere unnecessarily with such a salutary enterprise. Having duly considered the equities, we hold that UCSF may continue operations that have already begun at Laurel Heights as of the date this opinion is filed but that UCSF may not expand existing operations at Laurel Heights or begin additional operations there, whether or not identified in the present EIR, until a new EIR is certified and the project reapproved by the Regents. This restriction on expansion will provide the Regents with an incentive to act promptly to remedy the defects in the present EIR. Having failed to comply with CEQA in the first instance, they cannot fairly complain of any burden that preparing a new EIR or a restriction on expansion might impose on them. [25] One additional point merits brief discussion to guide the Regents in their future efforts to comply with CEQA. We emphasize that neither the present activity we are allowing to continue nor any prior UCSF activities involving Laurel Heights (including planning for the relocation) can serve as a proper basis for rejecting feasible alternatives to the Laurel Heights site. We shall not countenance any attempt to reject an alternative on the ground that the Laurel Heights site has already been purchased or that activities there have already commenced. The Regents must begin anew the analytical process required under CEQA. We will not accept post hoc rationalizations for actions already taken, particularly in light of the fact that those activities were begun in violation of CEQA, even if done so in good faith. To do so would tarnish the integrity of the decisionmaking process required by CEQA. Stated differently, the Regents have begun the relocation despite their failure to comply with CEQA in the first instance. It would be untenable for them to rely on the result of their own noncompliance as a basis for determining their future action.