Court Opinion

ID: 9724814
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:15:15.398456+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:45.712492
License: Public Domain

GATES, Acting P. J.
—I respectfully dissent.
One person may never adequately represent conflicting interests. Whether expressed in classic or colloquial form, few verities have been more oft reproven over the centuries.1 Consequently, our Legislature has proclaimed in clear, unambiguous language that:
“Any evironmental impact report or negative declaration pursuant to the requirement of this division shall be prepared directly by, or under contract to, a public agency.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 21082.1.)
It is not contended, nor could it be, that this commandment was honored here. In this instance the applicant’s agent not only prepared the initial draft environmental impact report (EIR), he was permitted to make all required responses to any concerns expressed in order that the final EIR, which he also composed, would satisfy his principal’s desires. When any person’s future income is dependent solely upon his ability to achieve success for those who retain his services, no matter how capable or honorable may be his intentions, his conflicting interests are so patent that the statutory proscription forbidding public agencies from casting him in such a role would hardly seem necessary.
*1459No derivative public benefit from this practice has been suggested. There are no resultant cost savings and, of course, any and all input from the applicant’s agent in aid of his client’s position is already expressly authorized by the second paragraph of Public Resource Code section 21082.1.
I gravely fear that by reversing this judgment and thereby allowing Los Angeles County2 and certain other public agencies throughout the state to continue to operate in this forbidden fashion, we will produce an effect that extends far beyond this particular project. Each year our state and local ballots are increasingly filled with initiatives and referendums manifesting the public’s dissatisfaction with the conduct of its governmental officials. One may only speculate how much more their disillusionment and understandable cynicism will be increased upon learning that those authorities who control the very environment in which we live and raise our families need not even retain neutral experts to supply the information necessary to enlighten the affected citizenry or to assist the officials in preparing the materials prerequisite to any well-considered decision.
However, I certainly have no wish to delay this particular applicant’s project if, as my minority position would indicate, my views are erroneous. Therefore, I shall not attempt to compose an extended legal analysis but will merely adopt by way of an appendix, the trial court’s statement of decision which I find both correct and persuasive.
Respondents’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied October 24, 1991.
*1460Appendix

“Writ of Mandate Granted.

“Pursuant to PRC 21168.9 (‘Public agency’ not in compliance with article [CEQA]; court’s powers and duties), a writ of mandate is granted directing respondent to set aside its decision of December 26, 1989, approving Zone Change Case No. 87-044, Compound Plan No. 002-89 and Specific Plan No. 2, and its certification of the Environmental Impact Report in connection therewith; and further directing respondent to suspend all activity which could result in any change or alteration to the physical environment until such time as respondent has complied with the requirements of CEQA in accordance with the specifications stated below in compliance with PRC 21168.9(b).
“1. It is clear that the purpose of CEQA is to protect the environment. See, e.g. PRC 21000 21001. The EIR has often been described as the ‘heart’ of CEQA; see, e.g., County of Inyo v. Yorty, 32 CA3 795, 810 (1973), Laurel Heights Improvement Assn. v. Regents, 47 C3 376, 392 (1988), or as an ‘environmental “alarm bell” whose purpose is to alert the public and its responsible officials to environmental changes before they have reached ecological points of no return’; see, e.g., Laurel Heights at 392. See also PRC 21002.1 (purpose of EIR to identify significant environmental effects of project, alternatives to project). All the appellate law which teaches that CEQA is intended to ‘afford the fullest possible protection to the environment within the reasonable scope of the statutory language’, Friends of Mammoth, 8 C3 247, 259 (1972), is not reviewed here, but yet provides the starting point for analysis of the requirements of the statute.
“2. The first paragraph of PRC 21082.1, codified in the ‘General’ chapter of CEQA, reads as follows:
“ ‘Any environmental impact report or negative declaration prepared pursuant to the requirement of this division shall be prepared directly by, or under contract to, a public agency.’ (emphasis added).
“The ‘division’ is Division 13 of the PRC, which is CEQA.) PRC 21082.1 goes on to provide in its second paragraph that ‘any person’ may submit information or comments to ‘the public agency responsible for preparing an environmental impact report or negative declaration’ and that such information or comments may be ‘in any format.’ Presumably in response to this ‘any format’ provision, the Guidelines allow a developer or his consultant to prepare a draft EIR, as discussed below. There is nothing in the second paragraph of PRC 21082.1, however, which creates a permissible third alternative method for preparation of a final EIR in addition to 1) by the public agency itself, or 2) by an entity which has contracted to perform this service for the public agency. These provisions are mandatory (‘shall’).
“3. The first paragraph of PRC 21100, codified in the ‘State Agencies, Boards and Commissions’ chapter of CEQA, reads in pertinent part as follows:
“ ‘All state agencies, boards, and commissions shall prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract ... an environmental impact report on any project they propose to . . . approve which may have a significant effect on the environment.’ (emphasis added).
“These provisions are mandatory (‘shall’). They have no direct application here, since here the lead agency is a local agency (see below). It is noteworthy, however, that the CEQA language is throughout consistent in this regard.
“4. The first paragraph of PRC 21251, codified in the ‘Local Agencies’ chapter of CEQA, reads in pertinent part as follows:
“ ‘All local agencies shall prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract ... an environmental impact report on any project they propose to . . . approve which may have a significant effect on the environment.’ (emphasis added).
“These provisions are mandatory (‘shall’). These provisions apply to respondent as a local agency.
“5. CEQA is rather clear that a public agency charged with the responsibility of preparing an EIR may do so in only one of two permissible ways: the EIR may be prepared by the public agency itself, or the EIR may be prepared under contract to the public agency. While *1461‘any person’ may submit information or comments, there is no provision for delegating the responsibility for EIR preparation to the agent of the very private applicant seeking approval of a project. This is not surprising. As discussed further below, it would be quite anomalous for CEQA, a statute designed to protect the environment, to delegate the very proponent of a proposed project the duty to generate the very ‘alarm bell’ that might result in rejection of the proposal.
“6. The Guidelines are of course subordinate to the these statutory provisions, but they are not necessarily inconsistent. It is noteworthy that while Guideline 15084(d)(3) does purport to allow a draft EIR to be prepared by the applicant or the applicant’s consultant (because, presumably, this is information in ‘any format’), Guideline 15089 clearly states: ‘The lead agency shall prepare a final EIR before approving the project.’ There is no provision in Guideline 15089 (‘Preparation of Pinal EIR’) allowing the final EIR to be prepared by the applicant or the applicant’s agent. Guideline 15088 states that the ‘lead agency shall’ evaluate and respond to comments and revise or add to the draft EIR to produce a final EIR. Even the Guidelines, which both sides acknowledge to be subordinate to the statute, do not provide for the applicant to prepare the final environmental critique of his own project, this ‘alarm bell’ required for the purpose of alerting ‘the public and its responsible officials to environmental changes before they have reached ecological points of no return.’ Laurel Heights at 392. It would be quite remarkable for CEQA to ask the private applicant (or, more remarkable still, the private applicant’s paid consultant) to find environmental reasons why the applicant’s own project should be rejected.
“7. Except for City of Poway v. City of San Diego, 155 CA3 1037 (19840, discussed below, no one who has written on CEQA seems to have contemplated the prospect that a developer’s own evaluation of his own project might constitute compliance with CEQA. In Laurel Heights, for example, Justice Eagleson wrote:
“ ‘Under CEQA, the public is notified that a draft EIR is being prepared (§§ 21092 and 21092.1), and the draft EIR is evaluated in light of comments received. (Guidelines, §§ 15087 and 15088.) The lead agency then prepares a final EIR incorporating comments on the draft EIR and the agency’s responses to significant environmental points raised in the review process. (Guidelines, §§ 15090 and 15132, subds. (b)-(d).)’ (emphasis added).
“Most other materials written on CEQA are also written from the express or implied perspective that it is the statutory duty of the public agency to prepare the final EIR. See, e.g., CEB Advanced Real Property Series, ‘Mandate Proceedings Under the California Environmental Quality Act’ (October/November 1987) (‘CEQA requires preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR) by a state or local agency. . .’); ‘California Environmental Law Handbook’ (4th Ed.) (Government Institutes, Inc.) (‘The lead agency has the responsibility for preparing the EIR, but preparation costs are typically funded by the applicant’); ‘Primer on Environmental Law in California’ (California Department of Justice, Feb. 1988) (CEQA applies to private agencies, not private entities, but private entities such as developers are often required by public agencies to pay for the cost of EIR preparation); Goldman, ‘Legal Adequacy of Environmental Discussions in Environmental Impact Reports,’ 3 Journal of Environmental Law 1 (1982) (‘CEQA requires every public agency to prepare and consider an EIR before its approval or disapproval of a project that may significantly affect the environment’).
“8. City of Poway does not constitute contrary authority. There is no doubt that in City of Poway the EIR was prepared by the developer’s consultant. 155 CA3 1037, 1040. There is also no doubt that this was not one of the reasons asserted for the invalidity of the project’s approval. 155 CA3 1037, 1041. Plaintiff in City of Poway attacked the EIR approval on three grounds. None of those grounds was that the EIR had impermissibly been prepared by the developer’s representative rather than the public agency. Obviously, an appellate ruling is not authority for a proposition which it did not consider.
“9. The stark and irreconcilable conflict of interest which exists if the developer’s paid consultant prepares the EIR is manifest. Moreover, if a consultant in the business of conducting environmental studies knows that its continuing source of employment will be *1462developers desirous of obtaining approval of their projects, is there need to inquire where the consultant’s interests lie? Clearly those interests will not lie in achieving unbiased, objective environmental analysis, or in revealing environmental dangers in the proposed development, but instead in achieving approval of the principal’s project. It would require a level of conscious integrity and subconscious mental discipline rarely found to result in production of an objective EIR in such a circumstance. A report prepared in such a circumstance is more comparable to an advocate’s brief than an impartial observer’s opinion. If, on the other hand, a consultant is under contract to, and consequently owes allegiance to, and has a hope of future employment from, a public agency, it is expectable that the consultant will be more motivated to provide the public agency with comprehensive, unbiased environmental analysis. This is the apparent purpose of CEQA’s requirement that, if the public agency does not prepare the EIR itself, the preparation be done under contract to the public agency. The statute is clear on this point; there is no contrary authority.
“10. If authority beyond the plain words of the statute is needed, the most nearly on point is Sundstrom v. County of Mendocino, 202 CA3 296, 307 (1988). The court in Sundstrom ruled that it was an impermissible delegation of the responsibility to assess environmental impact for the County of Mendocino to direct an applicant to conduct studies himself to determine whether unacceptable environmental impacts were involved. ‘Under CEQA, the EIR or negative declaration must be prepared “directly by, or under contract to” the lead agency. (Pub. Resources Code, § 21082.1.)’ ruled Sundstrom at 307. True, the County of Mendocino’s attempted delegation in Sundstrom occurred at an early evaluation stage before an EIR was ordered, and did not involve a developer’s preparation of his own EIR. However, respondent here indicates no rationale for more strenuous environmental protection during attempts to determine whether an EIR is necessary and more relaxed standards in later stages after determination that an EIR must be prepared because significant environmental impacts are likely. If anything, the rule might be the reverse. (See, e.g. the Guidelines allowance of a developer-prepared draft EIR, but not final EIR).
“11. If there is any doubt regarding whether a public agency may lawfully direct a developer to prepare his own EIR, it is dispelled by Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors, 8 C3 247, 259 (1972). In Friends of Mammoth, the Supreme Court ruled that CEQA is to be interpreted to achieve the maximum environmental protection that can be achieved within the reasonable scope of the statutory language. Here it is not merely well within the scope of the statutory language that the public agency, and not the applicant for the public agency’s approval, bears the responsibility of conducting the environmental study; it is plainly stated in mandatory language. Clearly, a study conducted by a public agency charged with protection of the public interest and not in a position of conflict of interest is more likely to achieve the purposes of CEQA than a study conducted by paid consultant of the applicant. The point need not be belabored, but needs to be clearly in mind since it demonstrates the rationale for the wording of the statute. Friends of Mammoth and all the similar cases following Friends of Mammoth are further reason to find that respondent may not comply with CEQA by directing the applicant to conduct his own environmental study and to prepare his own EIR.
“12. This ruling is based upon the CEQA statute and guidelines, the corresponding case law, and general principles of conflict of interest. This ruling is not based upon any conclusion regarding the competence, integrity or motivations of the particular consultants hired by real party in interest in this particular case. The court is simply ruling that the hiring of a consultant by the applicant to conduct an environmental study and to prepare an EIR was not a permissible means of complying with CEQA.
“13. Counsel to confer on a return date.
“14. Petitioner to prepare judgment and order.”

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24.) “Tell me whose food you eat and I will tell you whose song you sing.” (Folk aphorism.)

Ironically, the county’s own environmental document reporting procedures and guidelines mirror the state’s dictate in this regard by explicitly declaring in section 602, subdivision D, that “A Draft EIR shall be prepared by or under contract to the lead county agency . . . .” (Italics added.) Although provision is also made for the lead County agency to require the applicant to provide necessary data to assist it in its work, even in the form of a draft EIR, no such proviso is made for the final EIR. That is, subsection I states: “After evaluating the comments from those who reviewed the Draft EIR, a Final EIR shall be prepared by the lead County agency. The responses shall describe the disposition of significant environmental issues raised and shall be based on factual information.” (Italics added.)