Blog: That dam case (again) – Third district upholds Oroville hydropower facilities relicensing EIR against numerous CEQA challenges
On April 7, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal filed a lengthy published opinion – the latest installment in one of the longer ongoing CEQA battles in recent memory – affirming a judgment finding an EIR for the Federal relicensing of Oroville Dam and related hydropower facilities legally adequate. County of Butte and County of Plumas, et al v. Dept. of Water Resources (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___. … This case’s remarkably extensive litigation history has resulted in no fewer than four published decisions, three from the Third District and one from the California Supreme Court (aka “SCOCA”). (Of the three Third District opinions, only this case (Butte IV) is good authority, the other two having been abrogated by SCOCA’s grants of review.)