Incorporating Analysis of Sea-Level Rise Into Environmental Impact Reports

Abstract

is "reverse-CEQA," and not required. This muddled dicta is in conflict with CEQAs policy of complete and good faith disclosure in EIRs. Perhaps due to the conflict between CEQAs principle of full disclosure of environmental effects, and the well accepted prohibition on "reverse-CEQA" analysis, some EIRs for projects in coastal areas include analysis of sea-level rise in environmental impact reports, and some do not. 3 This Comment argues that, regardless of the ambiguity in the law and inconsistency in its application, analysis of sea-level rise is in fact required in an environmental impact report in order to properly forecast the significant effects of a project on the environment. When dynamic coastlines continue to rise and cause "coastal squeeze," development can significantly interfere with tideland ecosystems, wetlands, and coastal processes like beach migration, affecting mineral resources, biological resources, and resources that implicate the public trust doctrine. While the effects of sea-level rise may be analyzed in an EIR under resource categories listed in Appendix G of the CEQA Guidelines, an independent analysis of sea-level rise should be included in an EIR to determine at what point the project could threaten or deplete coastal resources.Part I of this Comment will provide an overview of how sea-level rise affects coastal resources, and the role that CEQA can play in mitigating these affects. Part II will detail what an EIR currently requires with regard to sealevel rise analysis and forecasting. Part III will then argue that the paradigm created by the judiciary and inconsistently adhered to by practitioners fails to account for the science behind coastal dynamics, and that a lead agency should always consider sea-level rise over time in an EIR to sufficiently protect coastal environmental resources.