Public Interest Briefs
Public Interest Briefs track CLIPI’s filings, funding, coalition wins, showing how each step drives policy change and nurtures advocates.
California Supreme Court Rules Pacific Palisades Oil Drilling Plan Illegal
Supreme Court’s Second CEQ Ruling
A decision by the State Supreme Court culminated a two-year battle by Center attorneys to prevent Occidental Petroleum from proceeding with oil drilling operations, pending preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR). The Court ruled that the Los Angeles City Council had acted in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it established oil drilling districts in the Pacific Palisades without prior consideration of environmental impacts and the Court ordered that the approval of the drilling districts be set aside.
Center attorneys filed suit in No Oil, Inc. v City of Los Angeles in October of 1972. The trial judge ruled that the City Council’s vote as to whether it had considered environmental impacts three months earlier when the drilling ordinances were approved was a proper procedure under CEQA.
Center attorneys argued in trial and on appeal that this was a post hoc rationalization of a prior decision and was illegal. The Court of Appeal ruled that the procedure was valid; the Supreme Court disagreed and reserved the lower courts’ decision.
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Spring ’75: Center wins Supreme Court fight halting Palisades oil drilling, strengthens EIR rules under CEQA, sues three police departments over bias, and hosts statewide energy crisis conference to debate solutions.
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